Assassin's Creed: Faith
by NanoBlade
Summary: Asgeir, the bastard brother of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, is an Assassin. Bound to a Creed as old as the realms, he will stand against forces that threaten the future of Arendelle, and possibly every realm. Xover with Assassin's Creed along with the others.
1. Chapter 1: A Tale of Three Siblings

**A/N: I started this idea after I wrote Blood Runs Cold. My OC in that story, Asgeir, was one that I was fascinated by so much, that I wanted to come up with a version of him that was more forgiving and a more compassionate than the first version of him I wrote. This was what resulted in it. The fic plays parallel to the events of Season 4 of Once, along with flashbacks that fill in the 2 year gap between Frozen and the show, showing how Asgeir came in on Anna and Elsa's lives. It's not required to read Blood Runs Cold, but recommended to understand more about who Asgeir is as an OC. This also crosses over with Assassin's Creed, but not as much as Frozen and Once. Hope you enjoy.**

The Creed: The only rule I have learned to be true, and the only one I truly follow. Stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent. Hide in plain sight. Never compromise the Brotherhood. But I had much drastically different morals when I began my journey. When I was inducted, blood and steel seemed to be my only purpose in life, with compassion and sympathy far from my mind. But I learned over time that the Order had many other things that drove it forward besides hate and violence. Friendship, honor, bravery, love. But these lessons weren't taught to me by my brothers at arms. They were taught by my only living family: A queen, and a princess from the North. My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. This is my story.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Tale of Three Siblings

After climbing out of the manhole, I closed it, and sprinted off. The manhole cover was on the roof of the castle. With every step I took, I could hear the clunk of the carved bricks beneath my feet. When I reached the edge of the roof, I stopped suddenly, looking out to the courtyard below.

Three guards were just leaving the garden below, leaving the blonde in the blue dress alone. She was sitting on one of the stone benches in the garden, looking down at one of the patches of flowers in the garden. I knew very well how much she enjoyed those quiet moments of isolation. Hell, I liked them too. Although she spent hers on the ground, and I spent mine precariously perched on high ledges overlooking the whole place around me.

An eagle swooped close to me as I closed my eyes. I outstretched my hands, and jumped, the eagle screeching.

I fell in a pile of cut flowers that would be taken to the ceremony. After taking a second to collect my bearings, I jumped out of the pile, and started over to her. I was soon less than a few feet away. I reached into my cloak in anticipation.

"We really need to stop meeting like this!"

I sat beside her. "How do you mean, Your Majesty?"

She looked at me, and then up towards the roof where I was just standing at. "I mean, are you trying to compensate for something?"

I shrugged. "Always have to stay on guard, Your Majesty. You can never be too careful."

She shook her head. "And that's another thing, Asgeir. We really must quit this whole charade. How many times must I ask my own brother to call me Elsa?" She smiled as she said this.

I laughed. "At least once more, Your Majesty."

Elsa threw her arms around me in a hug as we both stood up. I felt a slight chill of reassurance. Then she beckoned me to start walking with her.

"I trust your trip went by successful? Four months away in the realms." She said as we walked through the garden.

I pulled the letter out of my hood that I had reached for, and handed it to her. It was a report of the efforts by my brothers.

"The Order and I have done what we can in the other kingdoms. You need not lose sleep over the affairs of us Assassins."

"It's not the goings on of the Templars that worries me. It's Anna's wedding."

"Then thank heaven I arrived today! When will the wedding be?"

"Five days from now. Anna will be glad to see you, Asgeir."

"We both know that that's an understatement." I smiled.

We both walked through the door to the hall.

Elsa nodded. "I'm hoping you will be there for the ceremony?"

I stopped suddenly. "I would be welcome there?"

Elsa looked back at me. "You are our brother, Asgeir. Half brother, yes, but you are the one person that Anna would want to be there aside from me and Olaf."

"Yeah, will the snowman be there? Because that would just look strange if I was walking down the aisle with him."

Elsa shook her head as we headed up the stairs to the bedrooms.

"If it's not too much trouble, I was actually thinking Anna might want to have you with her to walk her down. You should be the one to walk her down the aisle, as you are our brother."

I smiled. "I'll see what I can do, but that sounds fantastic."

Elsa knocked at Anna's door. "Anna?"

"Just a second!" Came the reply. "What is it? Can't it wait?"

I grinned. "Is that how you welcome your brother home?" I called.

The door swished open in a blink and I felt the wind get slammed out of me as Anna flung herself into a hug with me.

"Asgeir!" She cried. "You're home!"

I laughed. "Of course!" I said. "I couldn't miss my own half-sister's wedding."

Anna faced me. "Come now, Asgeir! You've always been our true brother in our eyes!"

I smiled. "And this brother is home now."

* * *

Anna pressed me for every detail of where I had been. I held an important position in Arendelle's High Council, but I did much more work outside the kingdom. In fact, you'd barely find me working at a desk. I almost always sent spies and brothers-at-arms from various contact points as I completed contracts and missions.

"There are true wonders out there in the other lands, Anna." I said over dinner. "I've seen many sights one could only dream of even getting a quick glimpse of, and I've collected treasures that could make even a god jealous."

"Tell me more! What kinds of lands are out there? Have you met any new people? What have you had to do out there?"

Elsa held up her hand. "Hang on, Anna. One question at a time."

Anna stopped, breathing heavily.

I smiled. "Take a minute, and I will explain. The lands I've seen are beyond count, and I can't even begin to describe what even one of them are like. I've met plenty of new people. Generally I've made friends with my contacts in the other Orders around the lands. And as for my missions, well, you know very well what it is that I do, and it's not a very light subject for discussion."

Anna nodded. "I can understand that this life isn't like what you have out there. I'm sorry."

I held a hand up. "Hey. I was an Assassin before I was your brother, and before I was given the seat at the council. The life I live? It's one that I chose, and wouldn't leave yet. Now, how goes the wedding plans?"

"Five days time!" Anna beamed. "You came at the perfect time, Asgeir."

Kai suddenly came into the great hall, and smiled when he saw me.

"Master Asgeir. Good to have you back after so long."

"Thank you, Kai. It's good to be back after months in the other lands."

Kai bowed. "Will you be staying long? I trust you're here for Princess Anna's wedding?"

"Yes, indeed. I'll be here for the week, then I have to get back to business. Rest is one luxury I don't ask for in my position."

Anna looked as though she might cry when I said "week". I often think that Anna looked up to me almost as often as Elsa. Although living life as an Assassin isn't being the best role model.

After Kai left, Anna spoke up. "Just a week? But you've been gone four months already!"

"You'd understand my life if you were out there with me, Anna. It's one that constantly has me traveling to the furthest lands and realms. I had to take down targets for three whole weeks just to clear up this week alone. It's a rough business."

"All the same, I wish you didn't have to go so soon."

I sighed. I could never say no to Anna. It was easier to kill every Grand Master in the Templar Order.

"I'll speak to Matthew. At best, if he says no to me, he won't say no to the princess of Arendelle."

* * *

Nights are restless times for Assassins. You'd rarely see me sleep in an actual bed for most of my life. I mostly found myself out on the rooftop, overlooking the towns I stayed in.

The Templars were out there. I knew that they always had, and always would. No matter how many we killed, another just as bad, or even worse would take his place. My spies told me that Hans was a prospect for the Order. They would be inducting him in soon. When that would happen, that would be my way of giving the go ahead to drop him. Hans tried to hurt my family, and then allied himself with the Templars. If he declared war on Arendelle, that would be the trifecta of offense to me, and he would barely have three seconds left to live.

"Trouble sleeping?"

I nearly fell off the roof in surprise as Elsa climbed up through the manhole in the attic's ceiling. For someone trained in the art of killing people in a discreet manner, I was easily caught off guard from that.

I sighed as Elsa sat down next to me. She wore a nightgown and her hair in a bun instead of her ice dress and braid. "When you live the life I do, sleep evades me as if it's afraid of me."

Elsa looked down to the town sadly. "I suffered from insomnia half of my childhood after the incident with Anna. I know the feeling."

"How did you know I was up here?" I asked.

"You do realize that you're standing two whole floors above my own room, right? You've always stood here doing that. The aurora is out, and the lights cast shadows. I could see the eagle's shadow."

I nodded. "Those who see the shadow rarely get two more seconds. It's rough out there. What can I do for you?"

"I need information. Hans."

I sighed. Elsa was always concerned with the Southern Isles. After Hans was imprisoned and sent back, his brothers cleared him of all charges. Now they were looming in the distance, and they were not alone. The Templars contacted them not long after The Great Freeze. They applauded Hans for his scheming, but his failing to get Arendelle's throne killed his chances of joining the Order. Four of his brothers had been inducted in the past two years, and Hans was becoming the next hopeful prospect. I needed to act quickly, but until then, I was just the Spymaster for Arendelle.

"Not good news, Elsa. The Southern Isles are throwing a festival, and my spies tell me that several high ranked members of the Templar Order will be there."

A few snowflakes appeared over Elsa's head. She looked up at them, then shooed them away. "Is there any good news?"

"Yes." I replied. "Hans hasn't found his in yet with them. They respect his schemes, but don't trust him yet."

"Can I ask for an assassination on him?" She asked.

I stared. Elsa was a gentle soul. She wouldn't purposely hurt a fly, let alone a person. But I would slaughter as many Templars as I felt, and she knew it.

I shook my head. "It's not that simple. The Templars always seem to be two steps ahead. If I were to kill an inductee before he was even given his position, it would throw both Orders into chaos. It's all about timing in the Order."

"I will pay you." Said Elsa. "Please."

I shook my head. "I'm no longer saying no to my Queen, I'm saying no to my younger sister. I will not kill Hans yet. But you won't need to pay me when the time comes. When I decide it, I will gladly see that his life slips away."

* * *

The next morning Kai left me a note. It said that Anna wanted me in the stables as soon as possible to help taking care of Sven. Kristoff was off visiting Grand Pabbie and the trolls for the day, so Anna needed to do it herself. It made me proud to see that Anna didn't mind getting her hands dirty instead of sending servants to do it for her. I encountered several bratty noblewomen who couldn't so much as think about doing servants work without drastically scrubbing their hands.

After getting dressed, and pulling my hood up, I headed down to the stables. As I walked in, the only animal in there grunted at me in a welcome manner. Anna was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello Sven." I said, smiling. "Seen Anna?"

Sven didn't respond for a second, then grunted lowly. No, he meant.

I suddenly felt it. The Sight going off. An ability used by some in the Order, I could easily tell when someone would be coming out to gut me. An itch on my back, right below and to the left of my neck.

"Haaaaah!"

I drew my blade in a flash, and held it up towards my attacker. Anna fell off, and landed gracefully. She was up in the hay loft and had tried to drop down on me from above.

She grinned. "Did I get you, Asgeir?"

I smiled. "At best you caught a well trained Black Knight, but not someone on my level of skill. That's good at least, as Black Knights are some of the toughest opponents I've fought. Well done, Anna. Been practicing, I see."

Anna spun her sword. It was made of wood, but durable enough to use with a steel blade like my own.

"I was the one who pushed you to teach me. I should show my commitment to it."

I smiled as Anna kneeled down, and picked up a bucket of carrots. She slipped it into Sven's pen, then jumped back as he drilled his head into the carrots.

"So I assume that you want to practice after we finish with Sven?" I said.

Anna shook her head. "Already did it. Cleaned the pen, brushed him, and as you can see, he's happy with his carrots."

With that, I sheathed my blade as we headed out. Anna had a special place that we used to train with.

About three months after I came to Arendelle, Anna asked that I teach her how to fight. She wanted to learn because she had heard stories about the Assassins and Templars. I tried my best to explain it to Anna without spooking her, but I knew that she wasn't afraid to begin with. Anna knew the Templars wanted her and Elsa's heads to hit the floor, but she still stood beside me. It was that threat from the Templars that drove me to finally step out of their shadows and stand beside them as their brother. Anna, I could tell, was not afraid of the Templars. Courage was one of her best areas. Elsa was more worried, mainly because she didn't want Anna to have a repeat of what happened with Hans. I assured her that it would not happen, and so Anna requested that I teach her how to fight.

We headed out to the courtyard and over to the ring. Many of the castle guards came here to blow off steam and practice. No one was there at the moment, so we both went in.

"So what to go over today, Asgeir?" Asked Anna.

I looked at her. "You tell me. You want me to teach you. What do you need practice in?"

Anna looked deep in thought. "I can't really tell. Can you think of something to do?"

I shrugged. "I say again, it's your lessons."

Anna held her sword tight, then got ready. She didn't move, clearly in thought. Then she smiled.

"Let's go, brother!"

When I lunged for Anna with a long sweeping strike, she didn't miss a beat. She blocked each of my hits in perfect form, then parried with her own good hits. Finally, we clashed.

"Nice work." I groaned as our sword pushed against each other.

"Thanks. Two hours at dawn, two at dusk every day." Strained Anna.

I jumped back. "Not bad. There can be better ways to pick up skill, but in my book, experience is key."

We practiced all day until sundown. Afterwards Elsa held a council meeting with myself and the other members. Nothing too big aside from regular business as usual reports.

Three days went by. I helped Anna with practicing, visited Olaf one day, and had those few precious days where I could finally breathe and not fight. The day before the wedding, I went out with Elsa and Anna to see someone else I hadn't seen in months.

* * *

"...Anna they'd be so proud of you."

"The three of us, Elsa." Anna said, glancing at me.

I just stood off to the side, looking at the grave on the left. Agdar left me for dead, and tried to slaughter the entire Order as part of his position in the Templars. I could never forgive him for what he did, no matter what Anna or Elsa could say to me.

I finally knelt down at Mother's headstone. She was different. She didn't want to be a part of this war, but her husband and first born became people on opposite sides of it nonetheless. "I want to make you proud, Mother. Please understand that I know I found a cause that is noble and true, no matter how much blood I spill."

As I stood up, Elsa smiled. "Now, c'mon." She said to Anna. "I have a surprise for you."

Anna smirked. "Really? Because surprises tend to be a hit or miss in this family."

I laughed a bit. "Amen." I said, thinking back to my own arrival in Arendelle almost two years ago.

Elsa smiled. "You'll like this one, I promise." Her smile grew as she took

Anna by the shoulders. "It's for your wedding."

* * *

The three of us headed up the tall tower with Anna right behind Elsa and I. Anna kept guessing over and over again what it could be. Elsa already showed me what it was, and I knew it would be a good surprise for Anna.

"It's an..." Anna said as Elsa opened the door. "...attic." She sounded a little underwhelmed.

"It is indeed." Beamed Elsa.

I headed in behind them, taking in the sight. Despite all the dust, it was neater than any attic I ever saw. At least I could walk freely in there, weapons on me and all, and not bump into anything. I walked over to a trunk, and flipped it open to old maps.

"So we're here because?" Said Anna.

Elsa walked over to a wardrobe. "Take a look." She said opening it.

Anna gaped at the sight of our Mother's old wedding dress.

"You found it!" She said.

Elsa gestured to it. "Go on."

Anna nervously approached it like a child and their first horse, or me when I first picked up a sword. She cautiously reached to touch it, but pulled back.

"I don't want to rip it." She said.

Elsa smiled. "Well, then you'll have to put it on carefully."

Anna gaped at Elsa, shocked. "You want me to wear it?!"

I sniggered at Elsa's expression.

"Of course you'd want me to wear it, why else would it be here?" Said Anna.

I smirked. "I should damn well hope you wear it, Anna. You'd look beautiful in it."

Elsa took the dress down, and placed it towards Anna, testing it.

"It's missing something." She said.

She raised her hand between her and Anna, a silver snowflake pendant now in her hand. Anna was stunned as Elsa put it around her neck.

"There. Something New to go with Something Borrowed."

Anna grinned. "It's gorgeous-I mean, enchanting-I mean, I love you!"

My sisters embraced while I dug around. Since I was here, maybe Agdar had a few secrets I could bring back to the Order. Although I couldn't help but grin when they both beckoned me for a group hug.

"I'd like to see that with the dress!" I said to Anna. She walked around to the curtained part of the attic to change.

"It's so beautiful! And soft!" She said. "You know I'm gonna spill something on it. Maybe only clear beverages at the wedding?"

I just rolled my eyes as I went back to digging through the trunk. Agdar must have thrown his journal up here. The Templars always had this compulsive need to write down their secrets. Made things too easy for me when I broke into various hideouts of theirs.

"So about the wedding." Said Elsa. "Tell me I don't have to walk down the aisle with Sven?"

"You're the queen, Elsa. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't resort to that." I said, not looking up from the trunk.

"Sven's not the best man!" Said Anna. "But he is invited."

"And now is where you tell me your joking."

"He's going to be properly attired."

"Do they even have that for reindeer?" I said. "I'll have seen it all if I see a reindeer in a tux."

"I'm more concerned with the groom." Said Elsa.

"Elsa, he knows what to wear. It's not like he grew up in a barn."

I glanced at Anna. "Really?" I said, sarcastically.

Anna nodded. "Fine. Yes, he lived in one for a while, but he grew up with trolls. Wait until you see him. He even cut his hair."

I stood up from the trunk. Nothing in it. I'd check back later. "You know the sentence 'being raised by trolls' isn't meant to mean 'raised with class'." I said over to Anna.

"Not bridge trolls, Asgeir. Rock trolls."

"All the same, I'm not sure about Kristoff until I see it for myself."

Anna suddenly came out, a true sight. She looked just like-

"Mother Gerda!" I said. "You look wonderful!"

Anna beamed. "Aren't you a gentleman, Asgeir?" But then she looked behind me, and her smile faded. "Elsa? What's wrong?"

I turned, seeing a familiar sign: Elsa's distress reflected by the snowflakes above her head. She was reading what looked like a journal that she had taken from the desk behind her. I noticed the book I was looking for was right on that desk too: a small diary with the Red Cross emblazoning it.

"What is that?" Said Anna, approaching Elsa. "A diary?"

Elsa swallowed the lump in her throat. "Mother's" She simply said.

"Elsa?" I said. "What's in there?"

"...parents..." Said Elsa. She looked up from the diary, frozen tears in her eyes. "Their death...it's all my fault!"

She turned and ran out as Anna called for her. I quickly grabbed the Templar journal.

"Bloody hell..." I murmured. "Elsa!" I called with Anna as we headed down the stairs, following the trail of ice.

* * *

We found Elsa sitting on a log, in the woods outside the town. She hadn't made it easy for us to find her. After she left the castle, the ice trail stopped, and I was left to use my Sight to help Anna find her.

"Elsa!" Called Anna as we saw her, and approached her. The snowflakes hadn't receded from above her head. In fact, they had multiplied, implying that whatever horrid stuff Mother had written, it was too much for her.

"Please. I want to be alone." Said Elsa.

"You're our sister. You're never gonna be alone." Said Anna. Then she shook her head. "Other than when I'm not around, but even then I'll still be with you in spirit. But that doesn't matter because we're here now and you're not alone and- you know what I mean? It's a nice thing!"

Elsa was still crying. I pulled a handkerchief from my hood's pocket, and handed it to Elsa. She held it to her eyes, frost gathering on it. I sat down on the log beside her while Anna sat on the ground, possibly ruining Mother's dress.

"Elsa, what was in that book?" I asked.

"You can tell us anything." Said Anna.

Finally, Elsa nodded. "Turns out our parents didn't go off on some diplomatic mission like everyone thought. That was just a cover."

I didn't dare tell either sister that I was aware of this. While the Assassins knew the circumstances of the mission, we didn't know why they were leaving. And we didn't bother finding out because Agdar had his men in the Templars lock down the secrets of the mission up tight. Not even they knew where he was going with Mother.

Anna looked at Elsa with uncertainty. "For what?" She asked.

Elsa handed the diary to Anna. "Read it."

Anna read with dread as I placed my hand on Elsa's shoulder. "It's alright, Elsa." I said.

She nodded at me, and smiled a bit. "Thanks, Asgeir."

"'I wish I didn't have to hide the truth from our children. But the truth would be too painful." Read Anna. "'What we've seen from Elsa is terrifying, and it has to be stopped."

I scoffed, and stood up in anger. Destroy the thing that made Elsa special? It would be no different than what Agdar did to me. But what didn't add up was the mission itself: why would Agdar, with his position in the Templar Order, have Elsa's powers removed? The Templars wanted Elsa's magic under their control so that she could used as their weapon. Unless if they couldn't be controlled like they expected them to?

"They were scared of me." Said Elsa. "That's why they left. Because they thought I was a monster"

I shook my head. "To hell with that. We know who the real monsters in this family were, and you're not one them. I'm the only one."

Anna nodded with me. "I won't believe that! I refuse to believe that!"

"It's all right there." Said Elsa.

"Is it? Because it doesn't say where they were going, or what they were doing! It could be a misunderstanding!"

A mission like this? There was more to it than it appeared, but I was sensing something sinister with it.

"Anna, because of me they left. Because of me, we need Asgeir to walk you down the aisle tomorrow and not them."

"I'm standing right here, you know!"

Anna was at a loss for words. She just glanced at me and Elsa.

"I'm so sorry..." Said Elsa.

"You don't have be. It's not your fault!"

I nodded. "I said it before, I'll say it again: you're not a monster! Anna doesn't think so, this whole kingdom doesn't think so, and for sure Mother and Agdar didn't think so. Me? I know so."

Anna took Elsa by her hands, and stood up with her. "I will prove it!" She said. "This diary is only part of the story."

"How do you know that?" Said Elsa.

"Because...instinct?"

Elsa looked back at Anna with doubt at that statement.

"Okay, right, that's not enough, but there are more answers about what happened to them. I know it!"

Then she gasped out loud. "And I know who can help us find them!"

"Who?" Said Elsa.

"My future in-laws!"

* * *

It was a short journey through the forest to the Valley of the Living Rock, but we got there. I was amazed at how Anna had kept the dress in good condition the whole trip.

"Shouldn't you have changed out of it?" I asked Anna as we headed over, Elsa trailing behind us.

"Not a chance. It can wait."

I nodded as we approached the clearing.

Anna started checking each boulder as Elsa began protesting after spending the whole trip in silence.

"We shouldn't be here." She said.

"Oh, they're practically family." Replied Anna, checking another boulder.

"I meant you should be planning your wedding."

"It's tomorrow!" I said. "What other planning is there left to do?"

"Come on, Anna." Said Elsa. "You should rest. It's a special day. You should enjoy it."

"I can't if my sister's upset." She started calling for the Elder Troll. "Grand Pabbie? I know you're here. Why aren't you showing yourself! Grand Pabbie?"

There was still no response until I stuck my fingers in my mouth, and sent out an air piercing whistle like that of an eagle's screech. One of the boulders rolled right up, and revealed the short hairy creature.

"Goodness, Asgeir! You'd have woken the whole Valley with that whistle."

"Sorry." I replied. "You weren't responding to Anna."

He smiled. "Oh, it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."

Anna sighed. "When have we ever been traditional?"

Grand Pabbie noticed how all three of us were there, meaning something was off. "What's wrong? Something happen? You have second thoughts? He won't smell like that forever."

Anna shook her head. "No, no. This isn't about Kristoff, it's about our parents."

She kneeled down and handed the diary to the troll. "What were they really doing on that voyage?"

Grand Pabbie shook his head as he took a look through it. "I'm sorry. I don't know."

I shook my head. That didn't sound right. A troll at a loss for wisdom on something like this. But it was enough for Elsa. She knelt down and reached for the diary.

"Thank you." She said as she took it. She glanced at us, and nodded off to the woods. "Come on. Let's go."

We turned to leave, but were suddenly stopped.

"Wait!" Said Grand Pabbie.

The three of us turned to him. Now he decided to say something.

"I may not know what they were doing, but I know where they were going."

"Days before their journey, your parents stopped by to say they were not going to the Northern Isles. And they had a few questions about a land called 'Misthaven'."

Misthaven! Of course! If there were any answers that they were looking for, they would be there. I had spent so many years there in service for the Assassins. It was a second home to me, behind Arendelle.

"What did they want there?" Said Elsa.

"They didn't say." Replied Grand Pabbie. "They, like many of us," he stared at Elsa as he said this, reminding us of the obvious. "Had their secrets."

The troll suddenly yawned. "Now, I need my beauty sleep." He rolled up, and went off.

"We have an answer!" Cried Anna with joy.

Elsa shook her head. "No, we have more questions."

I shrugged. "But we have one answer. We at least have a start."

Anna grinned at me. "See? Asgeir knows what we need to do: we have to go to Misthaven!"

"No, I can't leave." Said Elsa. "I'm still queen. I can't just abandon the kingdom."

Anna glanced quickly at me. She knew what I was thinking: I could leave no problem with my position as Spymaster and Assassin, unlike Elsa.

"You're just making excuses, Elsa!" Said Anna.

"Remember your last dalliance, Hans?" Said Elsa. "He and his twelve angry brothers are still waiting-"

I coughed.

Elsa then nodded. "Sorry. Eleven brothers are still waiting to pounce at the first moment of weakness. They're not overly fond of our own brother ever since they last came here."

"Okay. Good excuses, but still." Said Anna. "Let me go alone. Give me two weeks. Misthaven is a short journey. Two weeks, and I'll be right back."

Elsa's response easily put a pin in that idea: "That's just what our parents said."

* * *

I knew that Anna wouldn't let this go as easily as Elsa could. That wasn't her motto. When I couldn't find her around the castle in the usual places after the hour we returned, I knew exactly where I could find her as the last place to look. I rushed to her room.

I knocked a couple times on the door. "Anna? You in there?" I called.

No reply, but I heard the squeak of a boot behind the door.

I rolled my eyes. "This is what she gets for having me as a brother."

I jumped high, grabbing the edge of the open transom over the door. Then I pulled myself up, and slipped through.

Anna shrieked as I went in. She was packing a bag, but I had surprised her enough to make her jump and reach for her belt as if she had a sword.

"Don't do that, Asgeir!" She snapped. "I could have needed that privacy. For all you know, I was changing!"

I put a finger to my mouth to hush her. Someone could have heard her shriek, and think I was in there as an Assassin. "What's the bag for?" I said.

Anna didn't bother to lie. She just gave me a look. "You know very well what."

I groaned. "Misthaven? Anna, you're getting married tomorrow! There will be plenty of time to do this after the wedding!"

"I can't just get married like this, Asgeir. I'm going alone to Misthaven to find what our parents died for."

"Now that I can't bloody well let you do." I said. "Misthaven holds some of the most fearsome creatures in all the realms from bridge trolls to dragons, unlike anything here. Even Marshmallow is tame to some of these creatures. Can you really expect to even make it five minutes out there?"

"You can't stop me, Asgeir. I know you want the same for Elsa; for her to have her questions answered. I'm going and that's final."

I folded my arms. "Anna, as your brother, I forbid you to go-"

"You may be my brother, but I make my own choices!" Snapped Anna.

I sighed. "Let me finish." I said.

Anna stopped shoving clothes into the bag and put her hands on her hips. "What, then?"

"Misthaven is a dangerous place. Right now they are at the mercy of a ruthless queen and outlaws are running loose. You need a guide. Someone who knows the terrain, and the territory. I forbid you to go there without me."

Anna stood back. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "You're absolutely right: I can't stop you from going, but I also know you need an escort. I see no one else better suited for the task than myself. I've been to Misthaven plenty before on missions and at meetings with the other wings of the Order stationed over there. I have experience there, and can watch your back there."

Anna placed our mother's journal into the bag. "You'll help me with this?"

"Well, I know that there is no possible way I can stop you. After all, I know you. But more importantly, you're the reason I came home so early, and so you're the reason I need to leave."

"And there's no way I can stop you from going with me?"

I smiled, then in my best imitation of her, said "I'm going and that's final!"

Anna rolled her eyes, then pulled her bag over her shoulder.

"Doesn't the Council need you here? Or the Brotherhood? You hold the position of Spymaster of Arendelle."

I shook my head. "I may belong to the Arendelle Assassin Order, but I also hold a position that gives me privileges. I can come and go as I please. But we will need to make one quick stop before we leave."

Anna nodded. "Make it two: I should at least let my own fiancée know about this."

I smiled. Leave it to Anna to forget something that important.

* * *

We found Kristoff in the stables with Sven. He thanked us for cleaning his stall the other day, and then got down to brass tax.

"This must be important if the Spymaster is with you, Anna." He nodded to me.

Anna pulled out the journal, and gave it to him. "This was my mother's, Kristoff. It turns out that my parents weren't on some sort of diplomatic mission. They were on the journey because of Elsa."

Kristoff looked up from the journal. "They were afraid of her?"

I shook my head. "Anna doesn't believe so, and neither do I. There must be more to it than this.

Then Kristoff's face lit up with understanding. "We're not getting married tomorrow, are we Anna?"

Anna looked at him with sadness. "I'm sorry, Kristoff. I can't just forget this and move on. I need to go off and do this."

Kristoff sighed. "Let me guess again. You need me to go with you?"

Anna shook her head. "I need you to stay here, and look after Elsa. I can't leave her alone."

Kristoff glanced at me. "Is there any stopping her, Asgeir?"

I shrugged. "If there was, would you think either one of us would be here?"

"So what do you need of me?" He said.

Anna nodded. "Elsa can't know about this until we're gone. She wouldn't let me go there, and neither would Asgeir." Then Anna shook her head. "Well, he then said he will go with me as an escort. Can you just stall Elsa if she comes here looking for me?"

Kristoff sighed, then nodded. "Be back soon, Anna. I don't want to wait much longer."

Anna smiled. She darted out of the stables in a flash.

I rolled my eyes. "Anna! You forgot something!" I called.

I heard an "Oh! Right!" Then Anna rushed back in, threw herself into Kristoff's arms, and gave him a big kiss right on the lips. I coughed, trying hard not to laugh.

Anna smiled, then rushed out. I started following her, but Kristoff grabbed my arm.

"You watch out for her, Asgeir. Can I count on a Master Assassin to protect her?"

I smiled. "Not only that. You can also count on your future half-brother in-law."

* * *

"Normally, I'd ask questions about what kind of fighter you are, Your Highness." Said Keif. "But as we are all pressed for time, we will stick with the basics."

Keif was the weapons smith for the Assassin Brotherhood in Arendelle. His work was unmatched in all the land, even though he only supplied his work to those in the Order. He believed that weapons as well made as his needed to be earned just as they were bought. Two prices to pay for them: one of gold, and one of sweat.

Before we left, Anna and I needed weapons fitted for the journey. I knew that it would be a dangerous path with the Templars still after her, and whatever it was that Agdar and Mother had died for. So we headed to the Order's hideout underneath the village.

Keif pulled out from under the counter a long thin blade.

"Just finished this today. I like to keep busy, and most of this stuff will just end up getting put away. You might as well take it."

Anna picked up the sheathed sword carefully, and then slid it slowly out the scabbard, the sound of scraping metal making a harmonic ring.

Anna stared in awe at the blade. She swung it slowly a few times in examination. "Amazing!" She breathed. "How much?"

Keif shook his head. "Consider it a gift for the sister of one of our best warriors."

Anna sheathed the blade, and strapped it to her belt.

"What about those knives that you hide in your bracers?" She asked. "What are they called? Hidden blades?"

Keif held up a finger. "Ah yes. Well, we strictly stick to teaching members in the Order for that. But I will give a basic one to Asgeir for you to use just in case. Speaking of, the package has arrived, Asgeir."

I looked up in surprise. I had been waiting months for the new design, and now is when I got it in? I'd barely have time to practice with it.

Keif placed the two new blades out on the table. They looked exactly like the current blade model in it's design, but the plans I found for this was anything but basic. They were based on rough sketches of a Templar engineer. He dedicated many years to perfecting our signature weapon, the Hidden Blade, and wrote a whole manuscript on better versions of them. One, for example, was a bracer with two blades in them. Instead of the blade shooting out straight, both swung wide in opposite directions on the bracer, and then met at the tip. Two blades for one. I found the engineer a year ago, and almost half of his book. But he tore out the rest of the pages and left them in the hands of many different Templars across the realms. The pages I had found and brought to Keif I had recovered in The Land Without Color three months ago. I barely escaped with my life from the crypt they were hidden in. Some of these Templars had creative ways of hiding things they didn't want us to find. I don't even know how the engineer had sent the pages to the other realms.

"Those pages you found were unlike anything I saw, but I was inspired enough that this will most definitely work. It's taken so long to finish because there was certain part that was needed for this, and without it, the whole integrity of the blade would collapse. Have a look."

While Anna swung at a nearby dummy with her new sword, I strapped both new blades on. With a flick of the wrists, the blades extended out. The steel blade was longer in design to ensure a close range attack would be wider in reach, and much more lethal. But there was another feature that made this one new.

"Turn the symbol on the wrist clockwise." Said Keif, gesturing on his own wrist.

I recognized the Order's symbol right on my blade, meant as the mechanism's button. As I turned it, it clicked in place once.

"The new design was again, unlike anything I ever saw. You'll be the first one to be testing the Rope Blade. Made for ranged attacks from a hundred feet away."

I pressed the button. The blade did extend like I expected, but what did make me jump was that it didn't stop after the blade popped out. It shot out of the mechanism like a bullet, and embedded right into the dummy beside Anna. She shrieked loudly as it hit the dummy, went right through, and embedded itself in the wall right behind it. The blade also had left behind something as it flew out of the mechanism: a long sliverish rope. A quick look told me it was made of a special carbon blended rope, which made sense. That kind of rope in our Order is hard to come by, and both blades needed a lot of it.

"Perhaps reading more of the instructions could suffice?" Said Keif, snidely.

Anna nervously pulled the blade out of the wall. I flicked my wrist again, and the rope and the blade zipped right back into the mechanism after slipping back through the dummy's head. A couple beans slipped out through the hole in it's head.

"I trust you might want to know the extra feature it comes with?" Said Keif.

I laughed in surprise. "This is already shaping up to be the best weapon I used, and there's still more?"

Keif nodded. "Turn the dial once more."

I did so, and took aim. I looked over at one of the walls down the hall. Matthew and a few others were discussing plans over a large map on the table. Time to have some fun.

"What makes that setting unique isn't the blade's shooting function!" Said Keif.

I flicked my wrist, the Rope Blade slashing across the hall, and embedding itself in the wall. I flicked my wrist again, expecting the blade to come back to me. I got a surprise.

Instead of the blade coming back to me, I came to the blade. I felt a massive yank on me that flung me across the room. Anna screamed out my name as I soared across the hall and slammed into the wall like a fly.

Matthew and the others laughed, and once I got the wind back in me, I too started laughing hard. Anna and Kief rushed over as they helped me up. Anna fussed over me, checking me out for any bruises or wounds. Keif explained once I got the dust knocked off me.

"This was an accidental function in one of the most recent prototypes. The setting you selected is designed to take you to the target by increasing the pull on the mechanism when you try to retract the rope back. Think of it like a grappling hook on your wrist. That's why I needed steel rope. It's to support your weight."

"Can I use it to pull a target to me?" I asked.

"You'd have to get plenty practice of controlling the pull. I have no idea how good this blade will work as I haven't made anything like this. My best guess is that once you've had enough work with the new blade, you can be yanking the fools a new one, and be zipping across the room on your own accord. But all I ask for you is that you use the new blades as much as you can on this trip with the princess. You never know when the skills you have yet to learn will come in handy."

"Thank you Keif." I said.

Anna turned to Matthew. "Mentor Matthew?" She asked.

Matthew bowed his head. "No need, Your Highness. Please just call me Matthew. You are our humble guest, and we are at your service. What can I do for you?"

"Passage to Misthaven by this evening." She replied.

Luckily, Matthew had plenty of friends outside the Order. The captain of the ship was a friend, and was glad to help serve the Order and Anna. Keif fitted me with a number of various weapons I would need on the expedition: my two finest cutlasses, sharpened and polished, my bow and quiver, two flintlocks, and by special request, my old air rifle. I hadn't used it in a long time due to my most frequent use of my bow. It was the only thing that Shay brought to the Assassins that I could thank him for.

I pulled my hood up. "We best be off, Anna." I said.

Anna nodded and we headed for the exit.

"Go forth and do what needs to be done, Asgeir. Find your answers" Called Matthew. "Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."

Anna and I turned. We both put our fists over our hearts, and bowed in response.

* * *

As the sun set on the day, the ship was just sliding out of the fjord. The Sight in my eyes saw Elsa running towards the dock at the village, with no luck being able to stop us.

I walked over to Anna, her clutching her snowflake pendant tight. The one that had become her most precious possession aside from her engagement ring in less than a day.

"This'll make things right, Anna." I said. "We will find proof what Mother and Agdar were doing. There's more to it than fear. I can tell they weren't running from Elsa."

Anna looked over at me, then back out on the water. "What's this place like? Misthaven? Is it dangerous?"

I crossed my hands. "Each land has it's own element of danger to it. But Misthaven has it's own special kind."

"How haven't I heard of it before?" Said Anna.

"Everyone knows it by the name that the inhabitants call it: the Enchanted Forest."

* * *

Before I left, Matthew had given me the one thing I would need above everything else. Only given to those in the inner circle of the Order, each member was given a small pouch of six magic beans. Not only did we grow them ourselves, but we also stockpiled them. As far as the giants were concerned, their beans were all theirs. They didn't realize that we used them to jump between realms. They are what made our Order possible in the Land Without Magic. But the six that each member carried were meant only for the tightest of emergencies, to escape to another realm, and then come right back. I would use two in this expedition long before it's end.

That evening, Anna and I went below decks and met the captain Henrik, and his crew.

"Step lively, dogs!" He cried out. "We're in the company of Princess Anna and Royal Spymaster Asgeir of Arendelle!"

He sat down with us at a table as dinner was finishing up. The crew was clearing out as we were entering.

"What can I do you for, Your Highness? Sir?" Henrik asked us.

Anna shook her head. "We're fine. Just leave us be, if you'd be so kind."

Henrik bowed. "Of course, Your Highness. The crew's music group is putting on a show in the crew's quarters in an hour, if you wish." He got up and left.

Anna looked over at me when we were close enough to alone. Three other crew members were over at another table on the far side of the quarters, playing dice. "Do your spies know anything about what goes on there in the Enchanted Forest?"

I shook my head. "I've only been working for them for less than a year. I myself have been there many times, but never made friends outside the Order. You have a lead here in Misthaven, right? This David person?"

Anna nodded. "Kristoff knows him, and said that we can trust him."

I looked around. "Anna, I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: you are in more danger than you care to realize. You ticked off a lot more people than Hans by exposing his plans to take the throne."

Anna sighed. "Yeah. You say the Templars are trying to kill me. But I've done what I can to defend myself. I also think you came here to protect me, right?"

I looked over at the crew members. None of them took any notice of us. "It's more than that, Anna. You're right about one thing: I appeared out of the blue to save your life, and now you have a brother. But in the past two years I've barely been home, always off trying to keep the Templars from reaching Arendelle. I owe it to you to at least have an adventure with you."

Anna smiled, then glanced back at the men. One of them gave us the slightest of stares before returning to the game.

"They're spies, right?" Said Anna.

I smiled. Anna didn't have the Sight like I did, but she had a keen insight into other people thanks to my training with her. I concentrated, and saw the three men glow red. I nodded.

"How do you want to play it?" She asked.

I nodded to her. "Whatever you do, I'll follow."

Anna gave it about three seconds before she pulled out a small coin purse from her cloak. I pulled my hood up, and followed her to the table.

Anna swung the purse casually around, the coins jingling like the bell on Kristoff's sled. She placed it on the table, and the three spies looked at her. They glared murderously at her.

"Can we work something out, boys?" She asked.

This was not something I would normally follow, but I knew Anna wasn't the one to give herself up just like this. She knew something.

"No." Came one reply. "We have been paid much more for your head."

Anna's smile faded. "Thought not."

She grabbed the purse, and smashed it into the closest man's face. I grabbed the one closest to myself, and extended my blade to his throat. He tried for his sword, but I pushed my blade closer.

"Ah, ah, ah!" I replied.

Anna just knocked out the other one, and then looked at the third one in my grip.

"What should we do with this one, Highness?" I said.

Anna nodded. "Find out what he knows."

I shoved the man down into a chair at the table as Anna sat across from him. I pulled out my flintlock and pushed it against his temple as I sat down beside him.

"Tell us what you know, or I replace your brain with lead."

"You don't have it in you!" He cried.

Anna held a hand up. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you. I'm giving you a chance, but my companion here doesn't have my restraint. You simply need to tell us what you know about your benefactors."

"Go to hell, Princess!"

I replied to that remark by lowering my flintlock, and shooting him in the calf. He cried out, and Anna winced.

"Can't we just try to show a little restraint, Asgeir? Of the three of us back home, you're almost as bad as your sister when it comes to making friends with that attitude."

One thing I forgot to mention was the secrets between me and the sisters. It is well known throughout the kingdom of Arendelle that I am the Royal Spymaster, but no one knows that I am Elsa and Anna's brother. The only exceptions to this are Kristoff, the trolls, Kai, and Gerda. Anyone else outside, Anna and I had to use code words to speak in a language that some would think they understand, but not at all. Anna was essentially saying that I was almost as bad as making friends as Elsa.

"Hans!" Cried the spy in pain. "Prince Hans of the Southern Isles! He promised us a fortune to kill you! With your death, he is to be inducted into the Order!"

Anna looked down. Who knew someone that innocent could infuriate so many others. But it was more than that: her brother was the sworn enemy to the Order that Hans wanted to join in with. Especially after I killed one of his brothers.

Anna then nodded to me. "Give him to the captain and pay him the usual rate to keep him quiet about this. We need to get to Misthaven, quick."

I pulled out my other flintlock, which still had a bullet it the chamber, and held it to the spy's head.

"Move." I ordered.

The spy shuffled forward as we headed up the stairs.

"You Assassins and negotiations. Instead of paying me off, you try to blow my head off instead."

I jabbed the barrel of my pistol into the back of his head. I could feel it pressing up against his thick skull.

"There's a difference: I'd be more forgiving if you only threatened me. Threaten those that I care for, and then I will lose all contempt for people like you."

The spy turned his head to look at me as we headed up to the decks.

"You live up to your name, Assassin. We've heard a lot about how Queen Elsa's spymaster is an Assassin hellbent on protecting Arendelle and her two beauties, the Queen and Princess. But it's not very honorable to be given the title of the White Reaper alongside the others."

I heard the name before. Most called me this because of the white hood. I'd assume they would call me the Blank Reaper for whatever color the hood was.

"No matter what names I have been given, know this: set eyes on my queen and princess, enter Arendelle again, or so much as think of either one of them, and I will truly live up to whatever expectations you have for how I would kill you. Send the message back to that royal prick, Hans."

Henrik stood at the helm with a concerned look as I pushed the spy to him. I handed him a bag of gold none too smaller than the one Anna had tried to give the spies. Then I headed back below decks as Anna and I came to watch the show.

"Way hey and up she rises/way hey and up she rises/ way hey and up she rises/ early in the morning."

"Come all you young sailor men listen to me/ I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea and it's/ windy weather boys/ stormy weather boys/ when the wind blows/ we're all together boys/ blow ye winds westerly/ blow ye winds blow/ jolly sou'western boy/steady she goes"

"Heave up go and heave away/ way hey roll and go/ the anchor's on board and the cable's all stored/ to be rollicked and randy dandy o"


	2. Chapter 2: Past-Nothing is True

**A/N: I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting this fic to pick up so fast! I thank everyone who's already followed this story and I promise that as a result, I will keep writing and work hard at having it release alongside OUAT's Season 4. If you catch any Assassin's Creed references in this, you're awesome. One more thing for any Game of Thrones fans who are reading this: Asgeir's appearance and character is based off of one of my favorite characters from the show: Jon Snow! Small wonder why if you really think about it. And yes, Asgeir has a British accent. This is because he was raised mostly by Assassins with accents. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to review, follow, and even shoot me a PM. I appreciate all feedback.**

Chapter 2:Past-Nothing is True...

I was nine when I first heard those words speak loud and clear as my training began.

"Nothing is True..."

Nothing? Then why must anyone believe in anything? To truly never believe in anything is to lose purpose for everything.

"...Everything is Permitted"

That can't be true either. A world where I can truly do anything and no one would stop me is just a pointless dream.

They all told me the same thing from the start. It was Matthew who truly spoke it to me, and my understanding began for the Creed.

"Remember, Asgeir. We are Assassins. We work in the dark to serve the light, bringing death upon those who deserve it. Those who would seek to see this world to end with us kissing their feet are truly the bane of existence to this world. Never forget that when your time comes, you will leave behind something for this Order."

Matthew was the Grand Master of our wing of the Order. I had my share of friends in the Order, but none like him. He was my father's apprentice when he was my age, and saw it his own responsibility to teach me what my father taught him. He was like a brother to me.

But I didn't just have Matthew. Under my hood in the Order, I had a secret only few knew of: my true family. I was a bastard born to a Queen of a nearby kingdom; The kingdom of Arendelle. Several of my friends in the Order knew of this, but outside the order, I could count on my fingers the ones who knew the truth.

Twenty four years ago, the King and Queen of Arendelle were expecting a child. They had been waiting for an heir for so long. When he was born, the Queen confessed the truth to her husband: I wasn't his trueborn son, but the son of Daniel Swortssen, a name only some knew of. King Agdar knew of him, because he was one of our enemies: A Templar. He covered the truth up as best he could. Hours after I was born, he ordered the seven servants that had seen me to forget that it ever happened, and then took me out to the woods to leave me. He also burned a diagonal slash across the back of my right hand to show my status to the world: the Bastard's Brand. Then he left me to die.

But Agdar didn't count on our eyes. My father knew that Gerda was with child, and sent several spies for us to keep their eyes on me, and ensure my safety. When Agdar left me for dead, they took me to Father.

He proudly took me in as his true son, and for the first few years of my life, he raised me. Despite being an Assassin at heart, Daniel was also a good father. He always made me feel like I had a place where I belonged. But when I was six, the Templars found our hideout, and executed him, Agdar leading the charge. I will never forget looking down the hilltop as we fled, seeing Father beaten and bloody, his neck against a log, as Agdar took his sword and then his head.

We spent years fleeing from the Templars everyday. But I know something: even if the Templars were to destroy every home we ever knew, we always find a new one. A small community on the border between Misthaven and Corona served as our new home. I grew up wanting to kill Agdar for hurting me. Father never told me why Agdar wanted to kill him, aside from the fact that he was a Templar, and we were Assassins. But Matthew eventually revealed the truth to me: Agdar wasn't killing Father out of bloodlust for our feud with the Templars, but revenge for giving me to his wife, my Mother. Ever since then, I trained harder than I ever could. Nothing drove me further than getting to Agdar for killing my father. I spent years across the realms, killing Templars, and those who did not deserve the lives they held. Many times I heard whispers from the Templars about Agdar's rage towards me. He had no idea who I truly was, only that I was the Assassin who sought to end everything that he had built up.

* * *

When I was 16, Matthew sat me down to discuss some important things.

"By now you may be aware of your mother's daughters?" He asked.

I nodded. "Elsa and Anna. I haven't seen them, but I know of them. What about them?"

"We've uncovered the Templars' true plot, and it involves both of them. I don't know when, but sometime in the future, both girls will be inducted into the Templars and become new members."

I nodded. "It'll put my own blood at the top of my list."

"There's more. Both sisters have been locked up for years, and we now know why: Elsa holds some sort of ice magic. It's dangerous, and from our knowledge, it nearly killed someone in the castle. Add that with her wisdom as a monarch, and-"

My eyes widened. "The Templars will have already won."

Matthew nodded. "Now normally, we'd be killing both sisters right now. But Agdar hasn't even told either sister of his allegiance towards the Templars, or who they are."

"We need to kill Agdar." I said. "And quick."

Matthew disagreed. "What have I taught you, Asgeir?"

I thought hard. It was an old lesson by one of our greatest from another land. The teachings of Ezio Auditore. "Striking at the head won't solve anything. We kill Agdar now, and someone will take his place."

"Exactly." Said Matthew. "We have our targets aligned with Agdar, so they will come first. Agdar will eventually come to our sights, but until then, we can't do anything like that."

I got up. "So where do we start?"

"We start soon. Right now we wait for a move from the Templars. Then we fight."

As I walked out, Matthew said one more thing. "We aren't killing those girls yet, Asgeir. Remember our first tenet."

* * *

The life of an Assassin is the furthest from an easy one. It takes the strongest of us to even bear it. Every year, more of us die at the hands of the tyrants with the Red Cross. We're always seen as the villains in this war, and people believe the stories. I often dream of a world where we find an end to this world. The last Templars see a world where people no longer cheat each other, and can work together without the Templars' influences. A world where all people, cultures, and faiths are equal. Where instead of spending all our time trying to hurt each other, we focus on protecting each other. That reminded me of a saying written by Ezio's father Giovanni Auditore: "There will come a day when men no longer try to cheat each other. On that day, we shall see what we are truly capable of." That day was long away. I always knew I would never live to see it, but I would do my part to leave something behind for those who would.

For five years, we fought the Templars, doing what we could to push them from Arendelle and Misthaven. Word began spreading of dangerous Templars rising faster than new Assassins. Cora, the Queen of the Eastern Reach suddenly vanishing, and her daughter Regina taking her place into the Templars. Then came a snag in the plan as another one of our targets fell.

"King Agdar is gone." Said Matthew one day at a table meeting.

Several of us were shocked. "Gone?" Said Jason. "Dead?"

"Lost at sea." He said. "He and Queen Gerda's ship was found by rescuers four days ago. They are both dead. With his death, the Templars in Arendelle are fractured. We can now set up a better wing in Arendelle, and hopefully reclaim our home in due time."

I just stood up and stormed out. Matthew called for my name, but I did not answer. I went out into the woods, and climbed up into the trees. Agdar was the one person who's death would let me sleep easier. Killing him for revenge would not bring Father back, but it would make our lives as outlaws much easier. I had become an Assassin who made sure targets suffered before they died. I had gone into a downwards spiral that only gave me more pain and suffering. I was one of the only people in our wing of the Order that used poison almost as often as steel. I was under a lot of contempt for other people's lives, those of the Templars, and of those in privileged lives as nobles. There was a time, weeks ago, when I killed a lower ranking Templar, and didn't even offer the prayer for him: "Hvil I Fred", or "rest in peace" in Old Arendelian. It was our way of showing respect for others, and instead, I deliberately avoided wishing that for him. What kind of monster had I turned into? No true Assassin. And to now hear that Agdar, the one who tried to bring death on me when I was born, was dead, didn't make me relieved. It made me furious.

But something happened after that day that changed things. Both potential Templars in Arendelle were without parents, and therefore had no one to help induct them in. This was another chance that we had. Matthew asked for my help in this.

"We aren't to come straight out to either sister. Tenet two and three." He said. "We are to observe them, and protect them. Find some way to stop the Templars from trying to reach them."

I did as I was asked. I watched both sisters with curiosity at a distance. For three years I spent my time in Arendelle, watching Anna and Elsa with interest. At first I only saw more potential targets in them, but they were different. Anna was a warm, gentle soul who saw value in everyone's lives, and who personally knew every one of the servants names off by heart. It was almost like they weren't her servants, but more like friends. Her only friends, since the castle was always closed up tight. Though, not enough for an Assassin.

Elsa was a different story. She was very wise beyond her years. But she lacked in courage what she had in her heart of ice. She could take a lesson from one of us about what it meant to face problems instead of hiding from them. But I felt a similar way with her. Both sisters were souls who didn't deserve the life of either an Assassin or a Templar. A life like that would be too much to bear for them. It was as I watched them that my faith began to come back. Faith in the Creed, and it's impact on humanity. I knew that one day I could truly stand among the legends. Ezio, Altair, Edward, Connor, Arno, all of them, and become one of the greats. Anna and Elsa brought me back, without talking to me, or even knowing who I was.

Despite being family to me, neither of them had any resemblance to me. Anna had bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair, and freckles across her nose. Elsa had skin as pale as snow, and as smooth as ice, with light blonde hair. I had black shaggy hair, a stubble, and several scars across my faces from various fights. One went from my right eyebrow, down diagonally across my nose to my left cheek. The other was down my left eyebrow, cutting it in half and down to meet with the other, almost forming a slight "X" across my face. Anna often said these days they reflected how much I had been through and how they had made me stronger.

* * *

The Templars did not give up in their plans for the sisters. Their plans revolved around the hope that the window could open up. And they would send one of their own to twist both sisters into their weapons. None of us let it happen. I killed three potential threats before they even had their chance to get turned away because Elsa wasn't seeing anyone that day. (Or ever. She was always shut up in her room if she wasn't taking lessons from her tutors.)

There was one day that I was almost exposed. The target was a Lord from Misthaven hoping to discuss the possibility of a trading alliance in the future. He needed to discuss the plans with Elsa, as she was unofficially the Queen of Arendelle, and therefore, the only one who could verify the agreement.

I found out about the true intentions of the meeting only an hour before he arrived at the castle. While Kai went to go get Elsa, I climbed up onto the roof of the garden's covered walkway. I watched as he sat down, waiting for a response. It was a simple job of running over, jumping down from above, and slicing his neck open with my blade. But then came the snag.

As I put him down, whispering the prayer, I heard a gasp. I looked up suddenly, thankful for the cover of my hood.

A young woman stood there. She had her strawberry hair tied in two braids, one of which was hinted with a streak white as snow. Despite her status, she wore a dress that looked more like that which a villager would normally wear. She had her hands to her mouth at the sight of the hooded man before her, covered in her sister's guest's blood.

There was no disappearing from this. But there was also no killing Anna because I could not do it, no matter what. She fit the term "innocent" as perfectly as a shoe tailored for oneself. I stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do.

Then came one of the most strangest responses I ever thought of: I looked at Anna directly in the eyes, my face hidden by the shadow of my hood, and I raised my finger to my mouth, hush. Then I took off, the wind blowing with me.

* * *

That was the last I saw of Anna for seven months. Not long afterwards, Elsa's revelation came forth in the form of a winter in the middle of July that lasted three days. Elsa became more than just the Queen of Arendelle. She gained a new name alongside her coronation: the Snow Queen.

Anna had an experience in those days I wish was better. It turned out that the Templars' plan almost had been successful, but we were unable to intervene due to the winter. Anna, however, foiled their plans. Their member, a prince by the name of Hans, was tasked with doing whatever it took to turn Elsa to the Templars. Anna didn't matter, because they didn't see any value in having her. But Anna ended up getting in the way of their plans. Hans was stripped of his titles, and I breathed easier as I resumed my position of watching each sister from afar.

You may have had this moment in your life, or you are waiting for it. No matter, everyone gets at least one moment. It's the moment when something happens in your life that truly changes everything in less than a whole second. It will be in that instant that you will have a life that is never the same. It can be arguably seen that the moment in my life was when Agdar left me to die. But that is not true. The real truth was when I received a letter from one of our spies two months after Elsa's coronation.

Matthew called me over when the carrier bird brought it to us. Enclosed with it was a list. The letter read:

"_Master Asgeir._

_This situation concerns all of us, but I am aware that it will be of your concern the most. I recently intercepted a Huntsman for the Templars, and with it, a list of targets. Most of them are some people not of our care, but then came one that did shake me. It was Princess Anna of Arendelle._

_I demanded he explain why she was on his list, and he said what he knew: the Templars want Anna dead for ruining their plans four months ago. The Huntsman is not the only one they hired, and it will be happening soon. What's more is that everyone committing the assassination is requested to wear white hoods. It may already be too late._"

A frame job. Kill the only person left in this world that she loves, and frame us for the deed. Nothing would turn Elsa against the Assassins faster, and in turn, bring her to the Templars. I didn't say anything to Matthew. He nodded to me as I ran off.

* * *

I arrived in Arendelle by dark that night. Already I felt my senses shiver as I vaulted the castle's high walls above the water: the Templars were already here. I climbed up to an unused nest at the top of a guard tower. Already I saw two disguised Templars running across the rooftops. Quickly, I whipped out my air rifle, and loaded it up. Two quick shots followed, with both falling to the ground, off the slanted roof. I dropped to the floor of the nest, onto my chest as I loaded another cartridge of darts in, taking a sharpshooter stance. Another Templar was running, this time trying to take cover from whatever hit his friends. But he was taking cover from the wrong angle. Another click came from the rifle as he fell down from the roof. Sleep poison, I used on them. Despite being non-lethal, a fall from a roof at that height, head first, would be much more deadly.

Guards came out to investigate the bodies as I got up from the nest, and rushed inside.

I swung into a window, and instantly found myself behind one of the castle guards. At this hour, Anna would be in her room. I needed to get there, and quick. I came up behind the guard, and grabbed him by the neck. Holding him for a few seconds took his consciousness right out. I sank back into the shadows as I ran through the hallways with the speed and weightlessness of an eagle.

Another Templar was up in the rafters of the hallway. I whistled quietly to him. When he looked down, I opened my Phantom Blade and stuck him in the neck, the blade soaring up across the hall. I sprinted off towards Anna's room, narrowly avoiding his falling body.

I focused my senses, the Sight kicking in. A blood red path laid onto the floor stood in front of me. The Templars were ahead of me. I needed to move. As soon as I knew I had the right room, I opened it and went inside.

I was only seconds early. The two Templars stood over Anna's bed as she slept, one holding the knife up, ready to complete the deed. Anna's window let the light of the borealis give an ambient glow to the room, the shadow of the two predators standing over their prey. Without even thinking, I was no longer an Assassin. I wasn't even a killer. I was just a brother trying to save the sister he barely knew.

I didn't count on the creaky floorboard, but it gave me a couple more seconds before they finished the job. Both of them looked up as they heard the squeak, and before either of them could respond, I ran over and grabbed the one with the knife by the neck. I shoved his head under my arm, and squeezed hard, feeling his neck give way as he fell to the floor. I quickly slipped the knife out of his hand and tossed it across the room to the other guy. He dropped fast to the ground with a thud, like his friend.

I bowed my head. "Hvil I Fred." I murmured.

"Who's there?!"

I turned. This was the second time this happened, but it would be the last. Anna stared at me again as I raised my finger to my mouth, just like last time. But this time, Anna wasn't so quiet. She screamed out, leaving me no choice but to drop to my knees, and hold my hands to my head in defeat. The guards burst in, and grabbed me. I, Asgeir Swortssen, the Master Assassin, had been caught.

* * *

I spent days in the prison underneath the castle. The captain of the guards had no problem with convicting me of an attempted assassination on Princess Anna. He didn't say anything for the seven bodies they found around the castle, and how they looked more like her would-be killers than me. Luckily, the guard that I had knocked out had lived, and would be taking a nice long holiday, and I quote, "no thanks to me".

I sat in the pit for days, waiting for the visit from the one I knew would come. And she did.

I woke up that day to a small amount of sun shining through my window. I was chained to the floor by my hands and feet, but I just sat there, breathing slowly and softly out my mouth. Then I saw it: my breath. I saw the steam rushing out as the entire temperature in my cell dropped as quickly as the Templars I killed from that dinner party when I was eighteen. I smiled as I felt the frost gather in the cell.

Two people walked in, one standing out much more. She was a slender young woman with pale skin and bright blue eyes. Her blonde hair so light it was almost white, was tied in a bun behind her head, and she wore a teal dress with black sleeves. I was a little underwhelmed by her appearance, because I had heard the stories about her as the Snow Queen.

Elsa and the turnkey opened the door as she glared at me with eyes like razor sharp sapphires.

"Leave us." She said.

"At once, Your Majesty." He said, and walked out.

Elsa walked over. "So." She said. "I've heard stories of you, but I never believed they were true: The famed White Reaper."

I grinned. "Is that what they are calling me these days? Not really a good sign to know that I hold a reputation, but you got to admit, it's catchy."

"What's your name?"

I turned my head, and spat off to the side. "Call me Ishmael."

Elsa humorlessly smiled. "Cute. So I'll catch you up on what happened several nights ago. We find in your personal effects, a list containing a number of names, some scratched out. Most of them weren't known by us, but then I spy one that isn't crossed off, and what should I find? It's my own sister on that list. Now I will tell you how this played out: you and your buddies all have Anna as the target. You breach the castle, but as you start to make your way in, a strange realization crosses your mind."

Elsa spoke this with such sarcasm and no sympathy.

"You are the legendary White Reaper. What would happen if on this one particular job, you aren't the one who kills the sister of the famed Snow Queen of Arendelle? You would lose your reputation. So you turned your blade on each of your allies, and killed them all-"

"Did I? I have been very bad."

"-and then expected that when you reached the target's room, you would be the one to finish the job. Did I miss anything?"

I smiled. "You missed everything, Elsa." I stopped myself suddenly. "Can I call you Elsa?"

She scowled. "Your Majesty, if you don't mind."

"Right. As I was saying, Your Majesty, you missed everything. But who's to say you'll believe me?"

"I would."

Elsa and I looked up as Anna walked into the cell.

"Anna, what are you doing here? This man is dangerous. I told you to stay upstairs."

Anna shrugged. "C'mon, Elsa. You knew I wasn't going to listen anyways."

Elsa crossed her arms as Anna knelt down towards me. "I want to hear his side."

"Why, Anna?"

"Because from what I saw, he wasn't trying to kill me. He was saving me."

Elsa almost burst out laughing as I sat up, the cold chains rubbing against my bare wrists.

"What say you, Reaper?" Anna said. "Or what do I call you? What is your name?"

"Asgeir." I simply said. Then I began. "Those were assassins paid in coin to kill you, and I intercepted one of them days ago. I made it here, killed every one of them, and was meaning to leave, but as we know, the one standing before me blew my cover. As for the guard, I deliberately made sure I didn't kill him because of who he worked for."

Elsa looked at me strangely. "But why save her? What does it matter if either one of us live? Aren't you just an assassin? Who are you?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Surprisingly, neither Anna nor Elsa said "try me". Which is how I usually had things play out if I said that. Elsa just stormed out at my obscurity, but Anna stayed behind.

"What's this?" Said Anna as she pulled out the thing in her hands. "It was with your effects."

I tried to reach out and take that from Anna. "Careful! That's a blade!"

Anna smirked. "What, a leather bracer? What kind of blade looks like that?"

Anna tapped it a few times, but it didn't open. Our blades are built with a special mechanism in them, designed so that only us trained in our ways can open them.

Anna glanced at me, then put the blade back into her cloak. "Who are you, Asgeir? I don't even know you, yet you seem concerned for my well being since you saved my life, and are afraid I'll cut myself on this blade."

I sighed. "You met me once before. I know you know when."

Anna's eyes widened. "You're the one who killed that Lord Franklin when he came to discuss trading alliances. Why?"

"It's complicated, Highness." I said. "Such is the life that I lead."

Anna stood up, also fed up with my secrecy. "It always is. Last time I heard that, the secret was my sister had ice magic. I'm not even sure I want to know what secret you're hiding yet."

Anna walked out as the guard closed and locked the gate behind her, leaving me in the cell. The frost gathering on the walls had disappeared, leaving the room damp and cold. How was I going to reveal this truth to either of them? I couldn't answer that question, no matter what I tried to visualize their reaction might be. They would take the news as easily as anyone could.

* * *

We have a ruling in our Wing of the Order: we leave no one behind. But this was a different case. I personally asked that I be left behind to give me enough time to reveal everything to the sisters. But who to tell first? Elsa was less trusting of anyone, and would probably freeze me if I said anything along the lines of "I'm your long lost half-brother, born to your mother and the kingdom's most feared Assassin."

Elsa wasn't giving up on trying to pull every secret out of me. After that day in the prison, she moved me to a different cell where the chains hung from the ceiling, and not the floor. She was convinced that her story was true, that I had killed those Templars to let myself be the one to kill Anna. The captain of her guards spent the whole of that day interrogating me. But I once acclaimed four scars from an interrogation from the Templars when I was seventeen, and I didn't say anything past "that tickles". This interrogator was nothing.

That night, I tried to sleep for a bit. It was hard with my hands chained to the ceiling. But as the moonlight shone through the window of my cell, I felt the whole castle go silent as the last person up above drifted off. My chance had come.

I swung my legs up, and hung upside down. Then I started climbing up towards the ceiling with my head facing the ground. Escaping imprisonment like this was another of the techniques they taught me when I was young. True escape artists taught what they knew to us Assassins. When I reached the end of the chains, I let go, falling down onto the ground. The force of my fall caused the chains to break off their brackets into the ceiling. I was free.

The guard heard the commotion, and ran over to the cell. When he saw me standing free, he flung open the door and drew his sword.

"Clever!" He said. "But you're gonna bleed for that!"

I rolled my eyes, then swung the chains out towards him. It made a blunt whip, in a way, that instantly knocked him out the second they made contact.

"Sorry mate. I'll apologize to you personally if Elsa forgives me for this."

I rushed out into the corridor, and down to the guard station. I knew they had my effects locked up there, so after searching the lockers, I naturally found them hung up. Quickly I threw my hood on and strapped my weapons on. Then I took off.

When I exited the prison, I was in the main entrance hall of the castle. As I focused my Sight, I saw three guards in separate areas of the hall, and not one of them at the door. Quick as I could, hiding in the shadows, I opened the massive front door and slipped out.

The moon shone a huge light on the courtyard. The surrounding town glowed orange in it's firelight, but I started for the water. If I could make it that far, I could swim around the town and work my way back to the woods leading out of town. From there I could-

"Freeze!"

I turned suddenly. Both Elsa and Anna stood before me, a guard flanking each of them. The guards had their rifles out, aimed at me.

I smirked. "Pun intended?" I called over.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Elsa, remind me to never say that again!"

"Nowhere to run, Reaper!" Cried her sister. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

I shrugged. "A little, yeah."

"You give yourself up, and maybe we can talk about giving you another week left to live!" Cried out Elsa.

I smirked. "You do realize I'm armed to the teeth, right? I've dropped enough bodies to fill seven hundred cemeteries, Your Majesty. I doubt your guards can take me down, even with those rifles. Now if you don't mind,"

I pulled out my flintlocks and aimed them both at the guards.

"I think it's well past time I made my exit!"

"Not until we get answers!" Cried Anna. "The only people we've seen you kill wore those white hoods a week ago. All the rest are guards here, and they've only been injured. Add that to the fact that you saved my life, and a lot doesn't add up! You're a cold blooded assassin. Why the sudden change of heart?"

I looked at Anna. How could I explain things to them? No proof to support my word. Nothing except the ramblings of an Assassin. Elsa would never believe me, but maybe Anna would.

Then I remembered who could provide proof. We had one mutual contact in Arendelle when it came to magic none of us understood. The Living Rocks, or trolls.

"Meet me where the rocks breathe in two days time, Highness. Your Majesty. I request that you two come alone, and we both know I won't do anything to hurt you there. Where the rocks breathe, and the steam rises from the ground. You know where it is."

I dropped a smoke bomb to the ground, leaving me to take off.

* * *

The king of the trolls, Grand Pabbie was a long time friend of ours. While he saw that our fight with the Templars was one that he would not fight with us, he helped us when we were most in need. But like most outside the small circle of people I trusted, he was unaware of my true parentage. But he trusted the Assassins, so I could have him find some way to prove my words.

I spent the next few days in the woods, hiding and doing what I could to avoid Elsa's soldiers. Despite my requests, she had her forces try their best to track me down. I only hoped that she and Anna would come alone to the Valley when they would.

I arrived early that day, and saw some of the trolls up and walking. I had been there only twice in my life, so the only one to recognize me as Asgeir was Grand Pabbie. All the rest had a different sort of attitude about me.

"Another one."

"Why do they always wear those sinister hoods?"

"Mommy, he scares me."

"...downright cruel, I hear some of them are."

"...Grand Pabbie trusts them. Leave him be."

I sat down cross legged on the ground as Grand Pabbie rolled forward.

"Asgeir. It has been far too long."

I nodded. "Yes, my friend. I hope I can ask you for help?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"Would it be possible to prove two family members were related? Through blood magic?"

Grand Pabbie stared at me in surprise. "Why yes. What is it that you wish?"

"I have secrets, Grand Pabbie. All of us in the Order do, but mine are greater in secrecy than most. I need you to understand the utmost importance that this stays between me, and the two people who will be visiting you soon."

"I will be having more visitors, eh? I was hoping I could take my nap, but I suppose. Who are they?"

I sighed. "My half sisters, Princess Anna, and Queen Elsa."

* * *

As Elsa and Anna entered the clearing, I held my hands up, my weapons all lying on the ground in front of me.

"You came alone, Miladies?" I called out.

Anna nodded. "But what is it that you want with us? Who are you?"

I lowered my hands. "My name is Asgeir Swortssen, member of the Assassin Order. My father was an Assassin before me, but it was my mother that provided a connection of me with you."

I held my hands out. "I'm your brother."

Both girls stared at me, jaws hanging by loose threads. Then Elsa spoke up.

"What are you playing at?!"

I held my hands up again. "Nothing. I came here to protect the only family I have left."

"Liar." Elsa snapped. "You're just another Hans trying to take Arendelle!"

I narrowed my eyes at Elsa. "Don't ever equate me to that royal prick again, Your Majesty. I seek a better world than what people like he are after."

"I believe him."

Both Elsa and I stared at Anna after she spoke up.

"Anna, enough."

"No! It makes sense now. He wants us here for proof. Proof only the trolls can give. And you said it yourself: he's one of the deadliest assassins in the kingdoms. Why hasn't he killed us yet? Why did he save my life?"

Grand Pabbie rolled forwards from behind me.

"Anna. Your Majesty." He bowed. "I have known Asgeir's kind for a long time, and I trust his story."

Elsa nodded at him. "What proof can he give us?"

Grand Pabbie beckoned for the sisters to approach. "Blood. It's in your blood."

Anna grinned in realization. "Blood magic. I've heard of this!"

"All I need is two people to give a few drops of their blood. The rest is no problem."

I glanced over at my weapons on the ground. "Highness, perhaps you should grab that sword over there? I doubt our sister would approve of myself grabbing it."

Anna nodded and walked over. As she did, Grand Pabbie left to go get the items for the spell. Elsa glared at me, inches away from freezing me solid right where I stood.

"If you so much as twitch near her, Assassin..."

I nodded. "You've made that clear, Majesty. But I have no reason to."

"Assassin or not, you have a reputation. I've seen your story. Killing innocents across the lands. People who have been known for their philanthropy."

I bowed my head. "You're right." I said, sarcastically. "I am ashamed of those deaths. It's not like they were only buying their way into a good position with the people with their generosity and faux sympathy. My enemies wish to control all of mankind, and in doing so, they have taken high positions on the food chain, calling us the evil ones. They say history is written only by the victors. We seek for the freedom of everyone from monarchs and dictators that would rather see their people bow down and obey them than truly be good rulers."

"And me?" Said Elsa. "Am I your enemy, Asgeir?"

I turned my whole body towards her. "No." I replied. "Even if you saw the world wrong, I wouldn't kill you. I'd try to help you see a different light in the world. The world you seek is not unlike the one I do."

Anna walked up with my sword, and kneeled down beside me just as Grand Pabbie returned. He held a vial of water in his hands.

"So how does this work?" Said Anna.

Grand Pabbie pulled a hair off his head as he explained. "The water is from the spring which fuels our magic." He said. "All it needs for this spell is a hair off an elder troll's head, and the two subjects' blood."

Grand Pabbie dropped the hair into the water, then looked at Anna.

"You first please, Anna."

Anna looked down at my sword with unease. She held her hand out, and carefully slid the blade across her palm, wincing sharply as she did so. I grabbed her hand, and held tight. Elsa almost jumped forward at me, but stopped herself.

"Thanks." Anna whispered to me. She held her open palm over the potion as the blood started dripping out.

I took the sword from Anna, and using the other side of the blade, casually slid it over my hand. Pain was another thing we were taught to master in the Order, so this did not hurt me at all. I held my palm out.

"What happens next?" Said Anna.

Grand Pabbie watched as the potion glowed white. "If it turns blue, you are pure brother and sister. If it turns red, you are of no relation. To prove Asgeir's story, the potion must turn green, signifying that you only share half of your blood."

Grand Pabbie shook the potion gently. Suddenly, we heard a small hissing noise as the potion began to darken. It then took on a hue akin to that of a deep forest.

Anna flung her arms around me as I smiled at the result. Elsa just stood by, brooding to know that she was related to such a monster.

* * *

While Elsa kept silent for the rest of the day, Anna couldn't have been more excited. When we got back to the castle, she explained things to Kai, who in turn, would get the guards off my arse.

"He saved my life. We should welcome him and let him stay for a while." She said.

I told her not to reveal my true identity just yet to the othwe people at the castle. I would decide when the time would be right.

"And what is the name of our mysterious guest, Princess Anna?" Said Kai, glancing over at me.

Anna was about to say "Asgeir", but I knew that Kai was one of the seven servants that had seen me when I was born.

"Connor." I said, cutting Anna off. "Connor Kenway."

A legend of our Order, and one of my heroes, I always used _Ratonhnhaké_:_ton's _colonist name as an alias.

Kai smiled. "An honor to officially meet our 'royal protector'." He joked as he shook my hand.

Anna and Kai led me to the guest chambers up high in the castle. When he was finished, Kai headed off to deal with some other business. Anna turned to me.

"So how long do you plan on staying with us, Asgeir?" She asked.

I stopped. "I'm not really sure. My first plan was to wait until a better time to reveal who I was, and then go back to the Assassins."

Anna frowned. "So you reveal yourself and then you just go right back to the way things are? You're more like Elsa than either of you two would care to admit. She was eager to jump right back into routine after her coronation, but she didn't expect things to go sideways like they did."

"I know. My brothers and I were within her magic's range. She's that powerful?"

"Oh yeah." Then Anna stopped. "Brothers? There's more of our family?"

I smirked. "Not exactly. My brothers at arms in the Assassin Order. They were the ones who raised me. Taught me their ways, and forged me into the Assassin I am now."

"So are you obliged by an Assassin to give a fake name to your hosts?" Asked Anna. "Connor?"

I shook my head. "I told you that I am your brother. What I forgot to mention was that your father took me away from this family personally when I was born, and told the kingdom I was stillborn. But seven servants saw me breathing. Kai was one of them. He would know exactly who I was if I said my name was Asgeir. He's not ready for that truth yet. Trust me."

Anna opened her mouth to counter my argument, but then stopped again. "You really are a lot like Elsa: you're one big mystery just begging to be solved."

I sat down on the bed. "Yeah, but I'm not sure you'll like what you find at the end of that tunnel. And there's one thing I don't have in common with you or Elsa."

"What is it?"

"I really am a monster."

* * *

Sleep is a strange force to the Order. It comes to us naturally, or all that guilt and alertness keeps us on the edge. I've never been a real sleeper. Anna left me in my room after dinner, but I found myself watching out into the woods out on the rooftops of the castle.

I understood Elsa's position. How she saw Agdar. She saw a father who would do anything to protect his daughters, even if that meant locking one up to save the other. And her mother. Why would she risk throwing away her marriage to Agdar for an Assassin like my father? To spend a night voluntarily with him and have a son from that. Shame, is what she felt. Shame that I was here. I only wish that she truly understand what kind of person her father really was, as I was the only one to truly see the terror that the Templars were capable of on the innocence of a newborn.

And even though he thought I was dead, it still wasn't enough for Agdar. He hunted us through Arendelle, tearing the kingdom apart if he wasn't busy pining over Elsa and her magic. The Templars say they wish to guide humanity into a new world. One where they can lead and be the shepherds protecting the sheep from the eagles. Yet the truth is that if an eagle were to target the shepherd instead of the sheep, the shepherd would use a sheep as a shield in fear. They were the only people motivated by fear more than an angry mob.

Yes, Elsa had a brand new burden of the family. She thought that she could let go of all the blood shed by this family, mostly done by her, only to see that someone else had dyed their innocence crimson.

The cool autumn air caressed my face, running through the stubble on my cheeks. I looked down at the shadow I cast over the water. The hood's point formed what looked like an eagle's beak, to truly make our enemies break down in fear.

The glow of the morning light was breaking through, rising over the Arendelle bay. I had a good assumption that Anna would be greeting me as early as she would wake up, so I jumped down from my perch and slid down the wall to my window, where I swung back into my room.

I knew things about the sisters, but when it came to sleep habits, I stayed clear of that since the only time I needed to know that kind of information was with targets. I didn't know that Anna was a very late sleeper. I tried to take the last couple hours of peace I had left, and sleep, but it didn't work. Sleep, as I said, eluded me like a common enemy.

Elsa was the only one in the dining hall as I came down when Kai notified me. We sat in silence as we ate. I was just amazed at all the food I had to try. Last breakfast I had was a crow and it's eggs. Worst part was finding a bullet fragment in it while I was eating. Happened all the time with me.

"How long will you be staying with us, Connor?" Said Elsa.

I looked up, a bit surprised, but then understood. Elsa must have been told what I told Anna from her, and there were two guards present in the room.

"I don't know." I said. "I expected I would be on my way now, but our mutual friend insisted I stay longer."

"Stay away from her."

I smirked. "Had to see that coming." I murmured.

Elsa ignored my remark, and continued with that icy glare at me. I saw a few flurries float over her head. "While you hung over the edge of the castle, right above my room, I was doing my homework on your kind. Those are not really nice things you people like to do, eh?"

So she knew my sleep habit now. Easy for her to assume the worst out of me.

I chuckled. "And I assume all these books were written by your father? Did you find any red crosses in those books?"

Elsa nodded. "But that doesn't excuse what you do, friend. I do what I do to protect Anna. And right now that means keeping you from her."

I chuckled again. The ungratefulness from that brat was unbelievable. I didn't care that Elsa was my sister. It wasn't fair for her to only see my hood and steel after I saved Anna's life. It made her no better than a certain sniveling duke.

"Is there something funny, Connor?"

"Yeah. If I did stay away from Anna, you would be just as alone as you were on that mountain. If I had stayed away in the first place, she would be dead, and you would be one of my enemies. But I don't want an enemy, and I doubt you do too. Sure, I'll try to stay away from Anna, but we both know that it's her that won't let me stay away."

I got up, clearly not welcome there. I started towards the door, but not before finishing with a good quip like any movie I had seen in the Land Without Magic.

"You call me monster in your head. Remember how that word was used by others four months ago, right here in this kingdom, Your Majesty." I spoke those last two words with such loathing, I knew Elsa would have frozen me right there if Anna hadn't walked right in.

While she looked ready for the day, I did notice a few tangles in her hair because she hadn't brushed it completely. Maybe she was just excited to see me.

"Morning!" She called. "What's on the schedule today, Connor?"

I glanced at Elsa. I saw the ice on her hand fading away.

"I need to talk to the blacksmith in town. Where can I find him?"

Anna nodded. "I know where. I can take you to him.

Elsa stood up. "Actually, Anna, I think it would be better if I had Kai or Gerda give him a map or something."

Anna smirked. "C'mon, Elsa. It's just the blacksmith. What harm can it be to go with him?"

Elsa pursed her lips uncomfortably, her brow creasing. Finally she spoke. "Fine. I'd say take a guard with you, but I know what your excuse would be there. One of you is a guard."

Anna beamed and grabbed my hand. "Let's go, As-Connor." She stuttered.

I could only chuckle at her almost blunder of my name. We'd find a way to bring my real name to the public eye one day. It would send a message to the Templars that one kingdom had an Assassin helping protect it.

* * *

Anna took me across the bridge of the castle into town. She took me from the bright and colorful trading district where the people had their stands set up, to a more humble district. It seemed darker, despite being the middle of the day, and the old steel sign over the door looked like it hadn't been washed since it was forged, which looked like the dawn of time. The sign was a simple piece of steel, holes placed strategically on it to make it look like a flaming hammer. Anna opened the door, and beckoned me in.

A man with brown hair and a stubble and mustache stood at the bellows, pushing them up and down to stoke the fire. When he heard the bell from the door ring, he smirked.

"Well, well. Princess Anna and..." Then he saw my hood. "Ah. What do you need?" He asked.

Most blacksmiths from here to the Southern Passage to the Eastern Reach were aware of our cause, and would do what they could to help us, for coin.

I put my coin purse down on the counter. "Regular sharpening and I will need ammunition."

"Excellent. I'm just going to need your inventory."

I pulled each weapon off my person as he examined them.

"Let's see. A pair of cutlasses forged in Corona, very nice."

"Two standard flintlock pistols. Cleaning and ammunition, I can give you."

Then he stopped. "You a pirate, friend?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Spent my time on board a ship. Sometimes their weaponry likes to stick with you."

He nodded and went back to work. "Lever action air rifle. Sleep, berserk, and steel tipped dart compatible. Impressive."

Then he checked my blades. The right handed one wasn't anything special, but the lefty was different. The smith noticed this too, and pressed the button. The blade's mechanism opened up and Anna jumped a bit.

"A Phantom Blade." The smith breathed. "These are very rare."

I nodded. "I'm one of only five Assassins in this realm to still use one. I like my projectiles just as much as my blades. Can I get ammunition for this?"

"I'll need a reference. Do you have a bolt from it?"

I nodded, pulling it out of my satchel. A long steel blade with no handle or bracer attached. Early designs of the Phantom Blade used broken pieces off of dead Assassins' hidden blades.

"Alright. I should have this back to you by the end of today. Come just before closing." He said.

Anna grabbed my hand. "Plenty of time for you to meet some more people." She said.

I smiled, then nodded at the smith. "I'll be back tonight."

* * *

Anna held my hand as she pulled me down the corridor.

"Just one thing about this friend: he's a big hugger."

I glanced at Anna. "I don't know, Anna. Last hug I gave someone-"

"You put a knife in their back?"

I nodded. "Such is the life."

Anna then laughed a bit. "You could try that on him, but chances are it won't do anything." She smirked as I just stared in confusion.

Anna opened the door to the library and we walked in. It was a massive room with a ceiling at least a good fifty feet up, with greatly carved pillars, and a roaring fire in the fireplace. Too many books to read in a lifetime strewn out over every shelf.

"Olaf!" She called out for the friend. "There's someone you need to meet!"

I heard a happy chuckle echo through the shadowed library as I looked down the way of shelves, trying to catch a glimpse of this mystery friend. The fire provided the only light in the room, making anywhere behind the shelves dark. I suddenly felt a tap behind me.

"Hi! I'm Olaf!"

I turned, and looked down. Olaf didn't get a chance to say two words before I shouted out and sent my foot flying through his head. It flew off his body altogether and landed in Anna's arms.

"What the hell?!" I cried out, reaching for the sword at my belt that wasn't there. I forgot the blacksmith had them.

Anna protested. "No! Asgeir, this is Olaf!" She held up his head, which seemed to be in no pain. A small cloud with snow falling from it hovered over his head.

"Uh, Anna?" He said.

Anna nodded, and set his head down onto his body. I just stared at the little white creature before me.

"How in the hell...?"

Anna smiled. "Elsa. She's just that powerful."

"She made a damn snowman come to life? Bloody hell..."

I have seen many strange things in my time in the realms, but for some reason, Olaf really threw me a curve. A dragon with two heads made me bare down and fight, but a talking snowman somehow was too much.

Olaf grinned. "And you are...?" He said.

I tried my best to smile, still trying to wrap my head around a talking snowman. "Uh, Asgeir."

Olaf looked at me funny. "As-gear?" He said, straining to pronounce it. "Asgeir, Asgeir, Asgeir." He said, three times quickly.

Anna smiled. "He's my brother, Olaf."

Now it was Olaf's turn to freak out. Although he didn't kick me in the head, which I apologized for later. He just gave this big gasp.

"But aren't you and Elsa the only ones in this family?" He said.

Anna shrugged. "I was as surprised as you, Olaf. It's a long story."

"What's with his hood?" Observed Olaf. He then held a hand towards his mouth. A hand made of a branch.

"He looks kinda scary with it on." He whispered to Anna.

I can swear that Olaf was easily one of the only friends I had then that had the most contagious smile. And he loved what he always referred to as "warm hugs". He gave one to both me and Anna as we were about to leave.

Anna smiled, waiting for my thoughts as we closed the door behind us.

"Well?" She said.

I laughed. "I'm hoping I don't have to meet a reindeer with a glowing nose next." I said, sniggering.

Anna looked by in confusion while I dismissed it.

"I'll explain to you one day. Who's next?"

"Well, you're half right with that assumption." Said Anna. "But it's not just Sven."

* * *

Anna led me outside into the stables. When we arrived I saw a tall man with messy blonde hair feeding carrots to a reindeer in one of the stables. It grunted loudly as we came in.

"What is it, Sven?" The man said, turning around. He smiled as Anna approached and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh! He's not just a friend, I can see." I thought to myself.

"Who's this, Anna?" He said.

"That depends." She said, suddenly flinching. "Was I supposed to say that?"

I smirked. "Name's Asgeir." I said to the man. "But if you please, I'm under an alias for most of the castle."

The man nodded. "I get it. I'm Kristoff." He glanced at my hood. "Have we met before? I've seen someone wear a hood like that before."

I shook my head. "No. Never once met."

Anna nodded. "But maybe you saw a friend of his. The... club which he belongs to wears those hoods, and they've been friends of the trolls for a long time."

Kristoff's eyes lit up in understanding. "Grand Pabbie never let me talk to any of you, but I remember a few of them waved to me as they left when I lived with the trolls. Strange club you must belong to, Asgeir. So why are you here?"

Anna leaned in towards Kristoff. "He's that prisoner we had in the dungeon a week ago."

Kristoff's smile dropped from his face and shattered. "I thought he broke out. He came back? Why?!"

Anna gestured with her head to me. "He's got no other family left."

"Well he can-" Kristoff stopped. "Family? What are you-?"

"I'm Asgeir Swortssen, bastard brother of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle."

Kristoff shook his head. "This family of yours, Anna? It's never short of world shaking secrets. Your sister has ice magic, and you also have a long lost half brother."

* * *

We were up in the lounge, the fire lit, while Kristoff tried to process this revelation. I just knew that he would not be the last to react this way to the story.

"Why haven't I ever met you? How come you've lived separately from the sisters for most of their lives?"

I held my hand up to quiet him. "My life with the Assassins kept me from the sisters for so long. It was mainly shame holding me back from them."

Anna glanced at me. "Shame?"

"I kill people. Innocent or guilty, killing is never easy. The only thing that can get me to sleep in that rare night is remembering that those I kill deserve what I give them."

Kristoff threw his hands up. "Great. And he kills people. Anything else I should know?"

"I saved Anna's life."

Anna smiled. "It's true. Even Captain Terry of the guards was amazed at how quickly he dispatched those Templars."

Kristoff quickly glanced at me. "So what? He's your guardian angel?"

I scoffed. "No such thing exists. All I did was intercept orders and acted on stopping them."

"Well, I guess that's worth a 'thank you'. But are you staying here? Are you leaving?"

"Queen Elsa would rather I leave immediately, but Anna's insisted that I stay a bit." I replied.

"I hope you can welcome him, Kristoff. I think Asgeir will be a good part of this family."

"That's just what you thought out of Hans when you met him."

My smile dropped. Once again, compared to the slimy Templar wannabe. "Don't ever compare me to Hans, iceman." I snapped. "Hans sought to have Arendelle hunt down and kill my brothers at arms along with me. Trust me when I say that it wasn't just my sisters he would screw over."

Anna grabbed my arm. "C'mon." She said. "Let's at least forget about the 'H word' and walk around some more."

I didn't resist as Anna pulled me gently out into the stables. As soon as we were out of earshot, Anna piped up, almost squeaking.

"I'm so so sorry, Asgeir. I didn't expect such rudeness from everyone. I hope you can forgive me."

"Forgive you? I'm shocked you're defending me." I said. "Why even side with me? What have I done for you to side with me against Elsa?"

"Don't get Elsa wrong. She's not as...cold blooded as you'd expect."

I shook my head, snorting. "The puns are never short of bad, and never ending."

Anna nodded. "But seriously. Elsa will see what I see. I can do only everything possible to help people see what I see. After all, I wouldn't be around anymore if you hadn't been there."

* * *

Elsa continued to ignore me throughout the days as I caught glimpses of her throughout the castle. Anna and I talked as often as we could, catching up. After a few days passed, I almost seemed to have known Anna for so long, and yet only met her a week ago. The daily routine became one where I would spend my days talking with Anna, and my nights on the roof. One night was different. As the borealis lit up on my fifth night, I felt a chill as I stood out on the roof. I slid down off the roof towards Anna's window. She wasn't alone in there.

"-saying is that maybe you should give him a chance. You know? After he saved my life? He's your half-brother, too." Said Anna.

Elsa folded her arms. It was strange. In all my time at Arendelle, I never once saw her as the famous Snow Queen. She always wore either her royal dress or her nightgown from what I saw of her. I assumed that she was afraid of showing me that side of her, even though everyone knew about that side.

"Anna, what do you know of the Assassins?"

"So far? Not much. Asgeir's been really conservative about this whole war between them and the Templars."

"Well, I did my research. It turns our our father was part of this secret 'club'. He wanted us a part of it one day, too."

"No." Said Anna. "I won't befriend them. Not after they tried to kill me."

Elsa picked a book up from the desk beside her. It looked like she had set it down as she went in. She opened it, and turned to a point in the book. The book's black leather cover held the Templar's Red Cross on it. Whatever was in that book, I knew, would be heavily biased and prejudiced against us.

"'800 years ago during the Great Crusades across the realms," read Elsa. "'Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad went down as one of his people's most notorious and despicable warriors. Much of his allies remember him cutting down countless proud warriors in the worst ways. There was even a time when he killed his own Order's Mentor, and setting his body ablaze (which was considered blasphemous during that time.) His actions gave him the title the 'Great Altaïr' among the Assassins, proving that they are just as despicable as him.' We don't have to turn to the Templars, but this Asgeir can't stay. He's a criminal."

I had heard enough. Elsa was convinced that I was the bad guy, but it looked like Anna didn't believe her sister, judging by her expression. But all the same, I still climbed back up to the roof, thinking of how I could show Elsa that it was the Templars she should be fighting, not me.

Then, I heard a familiar cooing. It was a pigeon's cry. I cursed under my breath as I grabbed it, and pulled the note off it's leg. As soon as I did, it flew off while I read the note.

"Asgeir. Southern Twins approach Arendelle with swords drawn. Be prepared." It read.

"Bollocks..." I groaned.

The Southern Twins. Fritz and Franz (yes you read right. Their parents thought that naming their children like that would be cute and not stupid.) were Hans' older brothers. Numbers five and six in line if you were wondering. If they were coming to Arendelle like this with guns blazing, then they likely knew that I was here. Because they had been inducted into the Templars two months ago.


	3. Chapter 3: White Out

**A/N: Shorter update than the last 2, but not a lot happened in this episode. Also, I work regularly, so expect a few gaps in updates as I try to write goo quick as possible. I believe in quality, not quantity. But I'll do my best to get up to a good pace.**

Chapter 3: White Out

It was a day's journey to the farm that Anna knew of before we could get there. We stayed at the inn off the shore the night we arrived, and left at dawn. Anna and I discussed some of the other things on my mind as we walked across the field.

"So these 'Pieces of Eden'. Have I seen any of them?" She asked.

I fully intended on telling Anna everything on our secret war with the Templars one day. The Pieces of Eden, however dangerous they were, were part of the story, so it only seemed reasonable that I tell her of them.

"Not many. There are hundreds scattered across the realms. We hold one that helps us travel the realms with it's properties. There's tales of a wizard who holds a Dagger with powers not dissimilar to a Piece. As for me, I held one. Once."

"What was it like?" Anna asked.

"Strange. I could hear voices coming from within. They tell us of many things. What has been, what is, and what will be. Instructions to build things, too. The Hidden Blades were designed by someone from the early Order who held an Apple. They say that he went mad when he looked at the Apple too hard, and the Blades are based on a design he drew when he was in our cells."

Anna shivered. "It's a strange world we live in. Talks of Templars and magic Apples and a secret war. But we're winning now, right?"

I shook my head. "No one's ever sure. In Arendelle, we have won already. But the Templars always believe that even after checkmate is declared, they can still win."

"Hans." Anna said, curtly.

I nodded. "My spies have been keeping a watchful eye on the Southern Isles. Ever since he was pardoned by his brothers, the Templars have been restless. So far five of his brothers are already initiated, and of those five, three of them joined within the last year and, only four are left. Hans is hoping to be a possible replacement."

Anna shivered again, which was funny considering she was bundled up much too heavily for this kind of weather. While I wore my typical Assassin hood along with all my weapons, she was wearing her winter cloak, mitts, and hat.

My hood was something that changed as I did. When my last one was burned by the Templars after I was captured a year ago, Anna wanted to give some ideas for a new one. It was still white, with hints of green, like how Connor Kenway had hints of blue on his hood. My new one also had the traditional Rosemaling designs of Arendelle, but with a personal touch to it, to make it still look intimidating enough to work with my hood.

I chuckled a bit, still amazed at Anna's sensitivity to the cold as we approached the farmhouse. Maybe some part of her never truly recovered from her frozen heart.

"Here we go." Said Anna as we passed the sheep pen.

I looked around. "Yeah, this is definitely one of Kristoff's friends."

Anna laughed. "What makes you so sure? Your Sight?"

"No. All I'm saying is that there's a certain kind of place you'd find my friends. Same story with people like Kristoff. He knows people in this kind of life."

Anna nodded as she went up to the door. She knocked on it fairly softly.

A man answered the door. He had long scraggly hair and old peasant clothing. This man was practically shouting "Hey! I know Kristoff!"

I had nothing against Kristoff. In fact, I was happy for both him and Anna for finding each other. He would make an amazing husband for her. But there was just a type that he had with friends, family, and who he was.

"Hello?" Said the man. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so." Said Anna. "Are you David?"

He nodded suspiciously. "Yes." He glanced over at me in my hood. "Yes, I am."

* * *

David stepped outside while Anna explained. "So I got your name from an old friend of yours." She said. "From Arendelle."

"Arendelle?" Said David, in a pleasantly surprised tone. "You know Kristoff?"

Anna looked confused. "How do you know it's Kristoff?"

David returned the confusion as I watched them talk back and forth. "Uh, he's the only person from Arendelle I know."

Anna looked deep in thought. "Okay. He didn't tell me that." Then she put her foot in her mouth for the seven hundredth time that week alone: "Hard to be on a secret mission when you don't have all the facts."

I coughed hard, trying not to freak out. I usually have a cover story ready for missions like this, but since Anna planned this quest, I assumed she had thought of her own story. It was clear she needed training elsewhere than swordplay.

"What's the mission?" Said David.

"Well, I just told you: it's secret."

Time for my help. "Look, mate." I said to David. "Bottom line is that Kristoff told us that we can trust you."

"Just not with the mission." Put in Anna.

I noticed David look at Anna's hands while she spoke. He shrugged, playing along. "Okay. What are your names?"

I didn't miss a beat. "Connor." I replied.

Anna took a second before deciding her alias right on the spot. Lying was another thing she needed to have better practice in. "Joan." She said.

I smirked. Hang in there, Joan.

David also smirked. At both of us. "Those aren't your names."

I nodded, still smiling. "Clever man. That's good you were able to see through my lie."

Anna explained. "We had to give false names. It's for your safety."

David winced. "Are you wanted?"

Anna shook her head, but I laughed. "Of course I am! In seven different kingdoms!"

Anna slapped me lightly on the shoulder. "He's kidding." She laughed, then glared at me. "You're kidding." She turned back to David. "Lemme try to be clear here: secret mission, your safety."

Anna then shook her head in exasperation. "Let me start over: My name is Joan, that's my brother Connor. Can we sleep in your barn?"

David smiled. "Sure, Joan." He said sarcastically. "Anything for Kristoff's fiancé."

"Ring." I coughed loudly. I howled with laughter while Anna looked horrified when she looked at the ring on her finger. She forgot to put it away.

David waved it off. "Congratulations. I guess I'll find out your names at the wedding. Barn's out back, so you can just..."

David looked over behind us, trailing off. Someone was coming. A carriage drawn by horses, flanked by two men, also on horses. I saw who looked like a ditsy princess sitting in the carriage.

"Who's that?" Said Anna.

I heard stories, but I wasn't sure if that was the so called warlord. She didn't look menacing enough. I expected someone wearing a sheepskin over her shoulders and carrying a sword along with the other weapon in her hands.

"That is someone you don't want to mess with." Said David. "They call her Bo

Peep."

Those people who wrote nursery rhymes in the Land Without Magic really needed to get their facts straight, because she was way off from what I heard of her there.

While David walked up to the carriage as Bo Peep got out, I saw an older woman come out of the farmhouse, who I assumed was David's mother.

Bo Peep sneered as she walked up to David and his mother. "'Would you like a cup of tea, Bo Peep?'" She mocked in the stupidest sounding accent I had ever heard. "'Ow 'bout a cookie, Bo Peep?'" I had an accent that sounded a hell of a lot more believable than she did.

She held a large flowered crook close to her. When she approached, my Sight went off like fireworks at the powerful magic attached to it. It wasn't a Piece, but one thing was certain if she used that kind of magic I was seeing: Templar.

"'Oo's that?" She said, glancing at Anna.

Anna stood firm. "My name is Joan."

"Oh." Said Bo Peep. "Adorable. What 'bout the Assassin?"

I glared at her under my hood. How dare she address me like that, no matter what kind of fear she instilled. David and Ruth stared at me in a manner similar to how people stared at Elsa when she first let her powers get out of control. Some people just didn't like my kind. "Connor." I said, angrily to Bo Peep.

"Right." She said. "Connor." She repeated in a mocking tone.

Then she looked at Ruth and David. "You know what I'm 'ere for: my payment."

"Your extortion." David muttered under his breath.

Peep heard him. "Call it what you like." She said. "But you and your flock are only safe if you pay me what's due."

David looked down into the dirt while Anna glared up at Peep. I could take the shot right here and now with anything on me, be it my flintlock, or the new Rope Blade I had been outfitted with. But that magic from the crook was bothering me. It was powerful, but what could it do?

"It's been a slow month." Said David.

"How bout this." Said Peep. "You just figure out how to pay me what you owe me by tomorrow. At noon."

David, after glancing at his mother, shook his head. "You gotta give us more time."

Peep smirked. "I don't give anything." She said like a typical Templar. "But perhaps if you hand me your steed," she gestured to a hazel colored horse by the sheep pen. "I'll allow another day."

David kept shaking his head, but not acting as he should have. If this was my fight, I would have taken Peep down already. How could she make such an offer to take a valuable procession, and only give a day for them? It pissed me off at seeing those kinds of Templars strutting about like peacocks. I started to step forwards, but Anna grabbed my hand, and shook her head. "Don't." She murmured. "Not yet."

"No deal." Said David. "That horse never leaves my side."

"Then tomorrow, when I come back, if there's no payment," said Peep. "You keep the horse, and I take your farm!"

She slammed her crook down onto the ground. I felt it shake with the magic. It worked like an Apple, I could tell, but it wasn't made by Those Who Came Before.

"You can work off your debts as my slaves!" She sneered.

That was it. "You bloody Templar!" I cried out. "How can you even live with yourself as a slave driver?!"

Peep smirked at me. "Easy there, Assassin. The Father of Understanding guides me." She waved her hand at me, showing off her ring. Full Templar, as I suspected. "What good can your Creed do you now? You gonna kill me right here and now?"

"I'm considering it!" I said, turning the symbol on my blade. Anna grabbed my arm. I glanced at her, and she shook her head.

David tried to talk to his mother as I yelled at Peep. "Let's go." He murmured. "We can leave this place and start over."

Peep heard David, and jerked her crook. David and Ruth fell backwards onto the ground. Anna and I scowled as Peep's horsemen snickered at them.

"You can't go anywhere!" Said Peep. "You're branded now."

She pointed to her crook. "This stick is what helps me find my sheep, and now you're part of my flock. If you don't like it, pay me what you owe me, or this farm, and your lives, are mine!"

She turned towards her carriage and started away, with me yelling out every damning word I could think of at her.

* * *

Later, I helped Ruth out as she rested in bed.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" I asked as I poured her some tea.

Ruth smiled and nodded. "Thank you, young man. It's Connor, right?"

I nodded.

Ruth smiled. "It warms my heart when I see acts of kindness like this. To see someone like you stop to help one like me. It reassures me that there is still good in this world."

I nodded. "It's the honorable thing to do. I am taught to help those in need from people like that she-devil."

"She called you an assassin." She said. "Are you here to kill anybody?"

I held a cloth to her head. "Shh." I said. "No, that's a common misconception that the Templars enforce. I'm an Assassin, but not like most believe. I am part of an order of men and women that fight against people like her. For the freedom of all. She saw my hood and recognized it. It identifies me as part of the Order."

Ruth nodded weakly. "We could use help from someone like you."

I shook my head. "This is not my fight. It's your son's. Joan made that perfectly clear to me, no matter how much I want to hurt her as she has hurt you and your son. Injustice can't be fought by one individual, no matter what people may think. To truly succeed, everyone must fight for what they believe in, and not let someone else fight their battles."

As I walked out of the farm, I saw Anna in the middle of a conversation with David. She spoke up with one of her many sayings.

"If you know you're going to win, it's not a fight. If it's impossible, then you have to fight to achieve it."

David sighed as he threw feed into the pen. "Spoken like a naive young girl."

I scowled. "Hey! That young naive girl is my sister!"

David looked up in surprise at my sudden appearance as Anna kept ranting.

"Right! I am a young girl, and I'm missing my own wedding to go to a strange land to track down-"

"*cough cough*" this time I coughed a lung into my arm. Anna remembered just in time.

"-some secret mission things!" Continued Anna. "You're a great big road man who doesn't even need to leave his own home to tackle some random bully!"

David scoffed. "I am a shepherd, Joan. Sure, if someone picks a fight with me in a tavern, I can hold my own. This is a warlord with a private army. What good are my fists against that?"

Anna said it as I thought it. "Maybe try a sword!"

David laughed as he pitched hay into the pen. "I don't know what Arendelle is like, but here in the Enchanted Forest, most farmers don't do a lot of sword fighting."

"Well if it's help with a sword you need, I can do that!" Said Anna.

David kept scoffing at every suggestion Anna laid out. I was glad we didn't have guys like him in the Order. Peep and her allies would be controlling every farm in the land if we did.

"Kristoff show you that?" Said David. "Because using an ice pick to shave cubes for cold beverages-"

"No, David. It was me!" I said. "I'm one of Arendelle's most fearless Assassins, and Joan is my best student as well as my sister. We both can teach you!"

Anna nodded. "Exactly!" Then she said another one of her best lines: "You can always give up tomorrow."

David sighed, then nodded. "Let me finish with the sheep, then we can start."

Anna and I started back towards the house as David returned to work. Anna then perked up. "I'm really your best student?" She said, eagerly.

I smirked. "You're my only student, as well as my sister, Anna. Of course you are."

* * *

I lent David one of my swords to practice with Anna. Despite them being one of the best made by Kief in partnership with a friend of his in Corona, I wasn't worried with it in the hands of David. I sat on top of the house as he and Anna banged away at each other. I had dueled him a few minutes ago, and easily bested him.

I then noticed something wrong with David's form: he had his right side facing Anna while he held his sword in the same hand. I whistled, and Anna picked up on it, correcting it.

"Why is he up there?" Asked David.

"He did the same for me when he taught me. If he sees how one fights from above, it gives him a better understanding of what they should do."

Anna got ready for another quick spar, and David followed suit. He swiped at her and she somersaulted underneath before hitting him with the wide end of the blade. David fell against the door as I jumped down from the roof.

"Doing good." I said. "Let's go again."

David shook his head. "No. No more. I'm sorry, but if I can't beat either of you, how can I beat her army?"

Anna looked down at David. "Wow, you really like to give up."

David shook his head. "Look, I know you think you know more, but I have my experience too. I know about battles that can't be won. And right now the best hope for me, and more importantly, my mother, is survival."

I smirked. "What do you know, Joan. You were wrong. He really _really _likes to give up."

David stood up. "I like to survive."

"But it isn't _living_!" Said Anna.

"It's actually the definition of living."

"Yeah, if we're reading a dictionary, shepherd." I spat back. "What this is is pathetic and foolish."

Anna glanced at me. "Let me, Connor."

She approached David. "I went through the same thing with my sister. Scary things happened, and she did what you're doing; she hid. But the way she hid was by running away. She thought that was the solution to her problem but it wasn't. She needed a push, like you, to see that surviving isn't living."

David scoffed. "And you gave her that push?"

Anna stared hard at him. "I almost died doing it, but yeah, I did."

"You become Peep's slave?" I said. "That's the same thing as running away."

David shook his head and started walking away. "I'll lose everything if we fight."

"You'll lose more if you don't!" Replied Anna.

"Let me be the judge of what loss I can take!"

Some people lost their hope a long time ago when the Templars took it from them. But for someone to fight that possibility of returning freedom, and embracing a life in chains was what truly pushed me over the edge. To accept the Templars' presence, and let them do things like that to them was what I could never stand for.

"Stop being so stubborn, shepherd!" I snapped. "You know nothing of loss! You're just afraid of it!"

David turned to me. "Oh, you don't think I know loss?"

"Damn it, if you did you wouldn't act this way!"

"Loss is exactly why I'm acting this way."

Anna shook her head. "I think it's cowardice."

I glanced at Anna, nodding. She sure had teeth when she wanted to. But she regretted those words as soon as she spoke them.

"I mean...well yeah. I mean that." She said, solemnly.

David stared, then started his story of loss. "When I was six years old, I woke up one morning hearing my mother and father go at it. They fought a lot. Usually over the same thing: His drinking."

I had heard stories like this many times. And they only ended one way. David said how his father tried hard, fighting his battles with the bottle. Hell, Matthew had one of those phases when he had his guilt years.

"But this morning it was different. He wasn't yelling, he was crying. And he spoke to my mother. Words I will never forget: 'I will beat this'. He said 'I have to be better for the boy. I have to stop.' And he promised he would."

I admitted later I was wrong: David knew loss just like the rest of us. I lost my mother to a shipwreck and my father got his head given back to the Assassins, impaled on a spike by Agdar.

"Every few months we needed supplies. It was a two week journey that usually turned into a two week bender." David continued, sitting down. I sat beside him, but Anna stayed standing. "But he said he was leaving and he wouldn't touch a drop and in two weeks he would be back home. Himself again. Her husband, my father. We'd be a family"

Anna smiled. I gave off the slightest smirk, even though I knew the end. I knew the father was gone the second we stepped on the farm. Dead, or abandoned the family was my guess.

"My mother kept it a secret but I knew. Every morning for two weeks I woke with a smile on my face knowing my father would be back. So, on the fourteenth day, I arose and heard a knock at the door, and I opened it ready to hug my father."

What David said next made the smile from Anna's face vanish like a flash of lightning. "I was greeted by the local constable."

"Yeah, my father fought his battle. And for thirteen days he won. But on the fourteenth day, he spent his last night in a tavern, and they found his body in the wreckage of our cart. At the bottom of a ravine."

He stood up. "Some battles can't be won. Some forces are too strong."

Anna spoke up. "You had a lousy father-I mean, he was weak-I mean, you are not. You are strong."

"You don't know that!" Said David. "Both of you!"

"No." I said. "But I know that even the weakest souls have fought for what's right, and have won greatly over evil. Some of those souls I'm proud to call brothers at arms."

"I hope you're strong." Said Anna. "Look, we just need a night here before we continue on the journey. But Connor and I can stay here and help if you want. We can meet back here in the morning and we can continue training."

I nodded. "We both will be here for you, shepherd. But if you don't want us, then we'll just be on our way. Let's go, Joan."

We started back to the farm, defeated for the day.

* * *

Bo Peep wasn't sitting on her arse while we trained. That night was one of the rare ones where I actually slept. But I woke to my Sight going off very early the next morning.

"Anna." I murmured. "Wake up."

Anna's eyes snapped open as I glanced out the window of the barn. The sun hadn't come up yet, but the sky was firstly light. Just through the window, I thought I saw two people walk to the door.

I held up one finger to my mouth as Anna stood up. Then two fingers pointed to the door.

"Two outside." I meant to say.

Anna nodded as I raised my hood, and extended my blades. The barn door slowly creaked open as the intruders entered.

"They should be here." Said one of the men. "The Mistress wants them both alive. Be careful about the hooded one, though."

I ducked behind a bale of hay as the two soldiers crept in. Anna had climbed up into the hay loft, with a clear view of me, but out of the sight of the men. I gestured at her to drop down and take one out in the back. My chance had come to test the Rope Blade. I turned the symbol one click.

Like a lion, I jumped out at the prey obliviously coming towards me. I flicked my wrist. With my experience with the Phantom Blade, my aim was only a little off. But I still hit my target where I wanted: right in his eye. I flicked my wrist again, retracting my blade just as Anna slit the other guy's throat. She did it, but not with dry eyes.

I nodded. "Not easy, is it?"

Anna nodded. "I don't know how you can do it, Asgeir." She swallowed.

I nodded. "Later. There could be more. Let's go."

We both headed for the door, but in that split second, raised out hands at the sight that stood before us.

"'allo sweeties." Sneered Peep. She had a firing line of at least seven guards with their rifles trained on us. I raised my hands to surrender, while giving the finger on each hand to them.

"Looks like you both are mine." Said Peep as she strode towards us. She jerked her crook. I felt a burning inferno press down on my hands as it felt like I was getting handcuffed by the air. I knew it right there: I was branded along with Anna.

* * *

Peep had Anna and I tied up in the barn of her estate.

"I'm gonna enjoy this, Assassin." She snarked as I was tied up by my hands. "Let's see 'ow you can preach your anarchist freedom while working under the whip."

She turned to leave, but then glanced at Anna. She took three steps towards Anna, grabbed her snowflake pendant, and yanked it off. Anna shrieked as Peep did this, angered that her most prized possession was taken by a ditsy warlord. I cursed every damning word I could think of to Peep.

She left as soon as she was sure we both were secure. But as soon as her guards were gone, I undid the knots on my restraints without breaking a sweat.

Anna stood there, still tied up against the other post, bewildered. "How do you do that?"

I grinned as I grabbed by weapons from the table on the other side of the stables. "An escape artist from Agrabah passed on all his knowledge to me. Peep had her guards use a knot that is only known by seven in the normal criminal underworld in this kingdom, and it's used commonly with Templars to tie us up. But that's the specific reason why I know how to get out of them." I cut the ropes on Anna loose. She stood up, rubbing her wrists.

"Shouldn't we be prepared?" Said Anna.

"For what?" I said, testing her.

"They might come back."

I grinned. "I taught you well. Take the hay loft."

I hid behind one of the stables' walls, nocking an arrow on my bow. Outside I could hear swords banging and slashing. Five minutes after it started, I heard footsteps come up to the door.

"Get ready!" I whispered up to Anna.

The door swung open and I jumped up, ready to skewer the guards on my arrow. But Anna dropped down on the sole one to enter.

"Hey! It's me!"

"Goddamn!" I cried out.

It was David. He held out a hand, Anna's pendant swinging on his finger. "Got your necklace back!"

As David and Anna were talking, I sprinted out to the gazebo where Peep was. As I saw the crook, I grabbed it.

"You!" I called to Peep, tied up against the post, looking very humiliated. "How do I remove the brand?"

Peep smirked. "There is no way!"

I glared at her. All my life I refused to be chained. And when I die, I will be the one thing I wish everyone to be: free.

I drew my sword, and brushed it against Bo Peep's leg. "I'll only ask one more time. How do I take the brand off?!"

Peep shrugged. "I never bothered to ask the one who gave it to me."

I slid the edge of the sword across Bo Peep's leg. Not enough to cut the whole of it off, but there was so much blood that it got her to talk.

"Aaaugh!" She cried. "Blood! A blood sacrifice! The crook only needs a blood trade for liberty! And my consent!"

I slid my finger against my blade, then traced my finger up and down the crook's hooked part, leaving behind a red trail.

"You 'ave my consent! You are free!" She cried in pain.

"Thanks." I replied, feeling the magic chains lift from my wrists.

"Asgeir?"

I glanced up. Anna was right in front of me, looking a bit worried.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "What's the meaning of this?"

"I refused to be chained to anything, Anna. You know that."

Anna placed her hand on my shoulder.

"All the same, she isn't a threat anymore. Let's go."

She turned and started walking away. I would have, but I still had one more thing left to do. I walked over to Peep, grabbed her hand, and yanked off her Templar ring from her finger.

"May the Father of Understanding forgive your failure." I said, spitting.

* * *

Soon after we returned to the farm, we were ready to get back on the road. I sheathed my swords as Ruth handed a parcel to Anna.

"In case you get hungry on the way." She said, smiling.

Anna grinned as she opened it. "I love sandwiches!" She said.

I rolled my eyes. "Cute." I murmured to myself. I could never get any of my sisters' songs out of my head. And as I would learn some day, I wasn't alone.

"You changed him, you know." Said Ruth. "Both of you."

"David always was like that." I replied, shaking my head. "He just didn't know it yet."

David suddenly came round the corner just as Ruth whispered her thanks. "Connor. I could use some help." He called.

"Aye!" I replied as I came up.

David led me to a horse he was saddling. "Just need you on the other side to catch it." He said.

I did as he told me, catching the saddle as he flung it over the horse.

"David, you are an honor to the Assassins." I said. "You got both of us out of a sticky situation, and faced your fears. I'm grateful for that."

David nodded. "You showed me how to stand up for myself."

I smiled, reached into my satchel, and held out a small piece of parchment with the insignia of our Order to him. "Should you ever need help from me again, or anyone of my Order, only draw this symbol on a piece of parchment along with what you need of us and send a messenger bird. It will find us."

David nodded. Then he stopped as he saw what was on the parchment. "I've seen this symbol." He breathed. "You're the killer of all those slave drivers in town seven months ago. The White Reaper."

I bowed. "In the flesh."

David placed his hands on my shoulder. "If the White Reaper stopped and took time to help me, then I know that I can face whatever lies ahead. Thank you."

I smiled. "It was the honorable thing to do. Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."

David and I went back around the corner, him leading the horse to Anna.

"What's this?" She said.

David gestured to the steed. "He's yours. To help you on your way."

"I thought he was something you could never give up?" She said.

"He's just a reminder. One I don't need or want anymore. He was my father's."

Anna stared at David in bewilderment. I just nodded to him.

Anna climbed up onto the horse. "Look at you." She said, beaming. "All heroic now."

David shook his head. "Still just a shepherd."

Anna grinned. "We'll just see."

I shook his hand. "You stay safe, David. We'll meet again one day."

David nodded, then looked up to Anna. "Not riding with her?" He said to me.

"No." I replied. "I take to the trees mostly. I do better on foot."

Ruth came out, and took Anna's hand. "Goodbye." She murmured.

I just barely saw the slip of parchment she put in Anna's hand as she let go.

We started off, myself walking beside the horse, waving good bye.

When we were far enough from the farm, I looked up at Anna.

"What's on the parchment?" I called up.

Anna jumped in surprise, and looked up. She was looking down at the slip.

"Ruth said there's a wizard who can help us with the mission." She said. "This is his name."

I asked the question with dread, knowing full well the answer before she said it. "Who?"

Anna looked down at the slip. "Rumplestiltskin." She read, slowly.

I thought I had seen the last of him long ago. I focused my Sight, and looked up to the sky, seeing that we were being watched by someone's Reflective Spell. No doubt by the imp himself. I could almost hear his malicious chuckling at what he planned to do to us when we arrived.

"Oh, bollocks." I murmured to myself.


	4. Chapter 4: Past-Gemini

**A/N: Hey! So I'm sorry for the lack of updating. (Hence I have posted two chapters). I have, however, been busy at work, and starting a seasonal fic for the holidays coming up. It will focus on Asgeir and the sisters with their first Christmas together, and I hope to have the first chapter up tomorrow. I also had forgotten to write more of the flashback chapters that accompany the events with Season 4, and therefore spent most of today working on this chapter right here. I hope you enjoy, and on that note, here we go!**

Chapter 4: Past-Gemini

The Templar Order of this realm truly were made of the slimiest bunch of nobles. Their leader was King George of the Western Valleys in Misthaven, with King Elias of the Southern Isles as his right hand. Some of the other vermin that made up his club were Queen Cora, with her daughter Regina soon to take a place beside her. Those are only a few of them that are easy to put faces to. The rest you wouldn't know. Elias was grooming his sons to become Templars, and with the end of his life in plain sight, he was ensuring that his efforts would bear more members of their Order, and in return, grant him the support to take the rest of the Island Kingdoms under his grip. But the others of the Order didn't trust his sons entirely. Hans was weaseling his way in, but when his plans to take the throne were exposed, his hopes were shattered, and Anna was put at the top of the list. And now that there was an Assassin in Arendelle, a lot of talk was arising. Could the Templars be losing their grip on Arendelle? Was it now Assassins who controlled it?

If Fritz and Franz were coming here, they were obviously sent by their father, and they would hide their true purposes by appearing to target Elsa and Anna. I needed to be on guard for their sake.

"Asgeir?"

Anna's fingers snapping brought me back to earth. I was sitting in the lounge with her, the board between us.

"You said you played well, but I expected you'd have made a move by now."

Anna gestured to the board. So far she had lost three pawns and a bishop. I lost only one pawn and a knight, but I saw an opening.

It was a week after I had gotten the message from Matthew. Anna had asked me earlier what kind of stuff I did for fun. I explained that as an Assassin, I didn't have much time to really smell the roses. I did find a fondness in poetry, and handled myself very well in a knife game I knew, but finally Anna and I found that we both knew chess. She had taught herself when she was nine, and I learned it as required by my training. Assassins learned chess to study the art of sacrifice, and searching for an opening in an opponent's defenses. And right now, Anna was wide open for an attack. I just hadn't made my move yet.

I moved my bishop forward just beside my pawns, and stopped there. Right now she was vulnerable for me taking her queen, and I was hoping she wouldn't see it.

It threw me off a little bit of the condition the king pieces were in. Both had the ornaments on the tops of their heads still on. In the Assassins, we usually snapped off the cross for obvious reasons. The pieces were of a beautifully hand carved mahogany, one a deep reddish brown, and the other a white comparable to porcelain.

Anna didn't see what I had planned. The ace up me sleeve. She moved a pawn forward from its starting position, but it was the one I wanted her to. I responded by charging my bishop through the pawns and into the queen that she never got the chance to move. The rooks were my worst enemies in the game besides the queen, but I could wait for them, despite the threat that they posed. Rooks proved to be a very aggressive piece in my opinion, so I always aimed to take them out quickly. The queen I would try to take out as well, but if my opponent played smartly, they would always keep their queen locked up tightly until the midgame approached. Anna was a smart player. Not as good as she aimed to be, but I could teach her.

"Is there something wrong, Asgeir?" asked Anna as I removed the queen from the board. She winced when she saw the mistake that she made.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

Anna moved her knight forward, just in front of my bishop. "I could always tell that Elsa was hiding something from me as we were growing up. I've almost become an expert in knowing if someone was hiding a secret from me."

"Sure." I said. I paused, trying to think of the words to put to Anna exactly what it was that was bothering me. "What do you know of the Southern Isle Princes?" I asked her, then quickly adding in "besides Hans."

Anna glanced into the fireplace, shaking her head. "I know that they all pose a threat to Arendelle now. Hans was cleared of all charges that the ambassador put on him when he returned to the Isles. Elias swore to Elsa that this was not over. He blamed me for something that happened between him and Hans."

"Did he say what?" I asked.

"No. He was very obscure. All he said was 'they forsaken him'. What does that mean?"

"I don't know." I said. But I did. Elias was talking about the other Templars.

Anna frowned. "You're lying." She said. "Does this have something to do with the Assassins?"

I looked down on the board, trying to avoid Anna's glare. "I can't say, Anna. I'm not trying to protect you, but I can't tell you what's going on."

Anna maintained her glare to me. "But can you tell me something at least?"

I did by asking another question. "What do you know of the Southern Twins as they are known?"

"I heard they're called the Gemini down there." Said Anna, sitting back in her chair. "Princes Fritz and Franz of the Southern Isles. They're the sailors of the thirteen, and even have their own man o war, also called the Gemini. Rarely seen one of them without the other close by."

Nice. So with two Templars on the way, then I had best do what I could to prepare for whatever they had coming. Although I only knew that they were coming. Not when they were coming.

"Why do you ask about them?" asked Anna.

I shook my head. "Just doing my homework. Get to know my sisters and their enemies."

* * *

There is no Assassin Order in the Southern Isles. The Templars have too strong a grip on the kingdom to allow the Assassin any occupation in there. But it is one of the only places in the realm that has no Assassin influence. And there are more places that are influenced by us than the Templars. But what we have in our true north, we lack in big guns. Guns that Templars have.

Elsa summoned me to her study later that day as I was swinging away at a practice dummy. The guard Forrester said she was asking for me. Elsa wasn't wearing her typical glare she had fixed on me for the past few weeks and a bit that we had known each other. She was at her desk, but she looked more worried than angry.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" I asked as I came in.

Elsa gestured me to the seat across from her. As I sat down, she slid the letter in front of her towards me.

"Can you explain this to me?" she asked

I turned the letter around, reading it carefully. It was a scout's report from the southern borders of Arendelle. A small fleet of warships was approaching Arendelle, flying King Elias' colors.

"Not much I can really say, Your Majesty." I said. "The Southern Isles had declared their allegiance against Arendelle months ago."

"But this seems different. There was another flag waving on the man o war. A Red Cross"

I winced, realizing that Elsa was lashing out against me one again. She blamed me just like always.

"It's clear to me that they're here for you." Said Elsa, her glare returning to her face. "I want you gone from the kingdom by this evening. I don't care who you are, or what you want out of us. You Assassins can't help but bring trouble wherever you go. I will make it well known that you are gone, and that will make sure that the twins, the Gemini, and it's fleet is turning it's tail right back to the Southern Isles."

I stood up. It was in that moment that I suddenly didn't see the point anymore. Why try to connect with Elsa if she would only see the bad that my cause did? At least she wasn't with the Templars either, in which case her throat would be cut open within seconds.

"By your command, Your Majesty." I said, bowing my head.

Elsa stood up, a small thump of her foot brushing against the leg of her desk. "I won't banish you either, but I request that you leave and don't ever show yourself to me or-"

The stained glass window off to the side of the office shattered. I threw myself in front of it, blocking Elsa from the shards. A couple shards grazed me, but I had been through much worse. Elsa seemed unhurt by the shards, because no blood showed. In that instant I realized that the thump I heard was actually the cannon fire from the ships. The twins were here.

Elsa lifted her hands from her head. We both rushed to the window. Every part of the fjord's waters was filled with gunships, the route out of the bay blocked. A massive man o war with sky blue sails with a yellow palm tree decorating it was charging the only frigate on Arendelle's side. She feebly sank, with no chance to stop it due to her being caught by surprise.

"Damn!" I called out. "Those bloody twins sure are going through a lot of innocents to get to me!"

Elsa put her hands to her mouth. "What are we going to do?" She gasped.

I scoffed. "'We'? I thought you made it perfectly clear that there is no 'we' in this. I was just leaving."

Elsa stared even harder at me, raising her hand. I saw it glow slightly. "If you really care for Anna, you will help us push back the twins."

I groaned. "Do you have any ships ready to fight?"

Elsa nodded. "We have one brig. It's old, but can do the job right."

"Good. I can take out most of those gunboats with the brig. In the meantime I would recommend staying here and keeping out of sight. I'll be back."

I jumped down through the hole and slid down the slanted wall to the courtyard, sprinting down to the dockyard. I recognized the brig as soon as it came into my view. She did look old enough, but she was well kept, and with a fair amount of guns and a decent hull. Workmen ran about the deck, trying to get her ready.

"Weigh anchor and quick, boys!" Called who I thought was the captain. "We need to get this ship ready to kick those Southern bastards back to their isles!"

I jumped aboard and up to the helm. "Hurry with that anchor!" I called. I turned to the man at the wheel. "I am here to help, Captain."

The man looked at me uneasily. "I'm not the captain. He was on the Ruby when she sank!" He pointed out to the only frigate we had, still sinking. The few desperate souls were either swimming towards shore, or climbing the masts.

I rolled my eyes. "I can take the wheel, mate!" I called. "Get that anchor out, and untie us!"

What felt like hours finally transpired, and we were free from the grip of the dock.

"Loose all! Let's get moving!" I yelled.

I looked around the deck at what the ship had in firepower. Two swivel guns beside me, and one mortar cannon. Not much to take the ship down, but I had good sea legs.

I had spent three whole years of my life in the far south of the realm, learning the ins and outs of sailing, eventually landing me at the position of first mate and a long time at the helm of the frigate I served on board, the Satan's Trident. My experience was enough that I could sink almost every ship in the fjord, if I was lucky.

Several of the gunboats were zeroing in on us, along with two fierce schooners. I pushed the wheel down, spinning the ship's broadside towards the boats.

"Ready!" I called out, the noise of the cannons being loaded up rising. I could see the other boats readying their own guns, but they would not have the chance to do so.

"FIRE!" I roared out.

The massive metal spheres soared out from the cannons and rained down on the gunboats. A number sank instantly, and the other set of them could do nothing as the fires and explosions set their sails ablaze.

I turned the ship around again, this time pointing the bow directly at the incapacitated vessels.

"Ready the frontside cannons!" I called out. "And FIRE!"

Several Southern Isle crewmembers desperately jumped overboard as the cannonballs blasted the boats apart, figuring that drowning or getting taken by Arendelle's troops would be a much better fate than dying in an exploding ship.

By now only one other smaller boat remained, and I had something special for them.

"Topsails! Gallants! Royals! Loose all!"

The ship rapidly began gaining speed as it sliced through the crashing whitecap waves through to the last schooner. The crew for a rat of a ship could do nothing but pray a quick death to come upon them as the ram cracked the entire ship in half, the masts forming an arch right over the ship like the gate of a mansion.

I smirked and the crew cheered. Good chunks of the attacking fleet were now left with the choice of swimming ashore and taken prisoner, or stay and spend eternity singing for Davy Jones. The remainder of the fleet was a small brig, and the Gemini.

I called over to the first mate. "What's your first name?" I called.

"Alonso!" He replied.

"Alright Alonso! I'm going to bring us close to the Gemini! I can take the deck and stop the ship if you can get me aboard!"

Alonso gave me the typical reaction to that psychotic plan. "You'll be skewered by their crew if you take them alone!"

I shook my head. "The hell I will."

Alonso took the wheel as I climbed up towards the swing line on the ship. The Gemini's crewmembers were getting ready to blow us apart with their massive cannons, but didn't expect the one man with all guts and no brains to swing on the line and stab two of them as the ship came around. They circled me as I got up from taking their dead friends.

"Assassin…" said one of them. "Didn't think you'd give yourself up to us."

"I came aboard your ship, but it means a far cry from what you seem to think I am here to do." I drew my cutlasses. "Who's first?"

* * *

There's this misnomer among people in the Order. It's said by several that all we really are is just blood thirsty. But to tell you the truth, I hate blood. It's messy and hot and just disturbing and emotionally scarring. You take your first life, and you won't forget what it felt like when their blood ended up from their heart, onto your hands.

The entire deck was drenched in blood after the battle was finished, and barely any of it was my own. Only the commander at the helm was left. He drew his blade, and smirked like the cocky bastards the Templars were.

"I'll only ask this once, wanker." I snapped. "Where are the twins?"

"Oh, you expect a confession out of me? That I will suddenly back down after you slaughtered my entire crew? That I will cower in fear and tell you exactly where to find my masters?"

I sighed, then pulled my flintlock out and shot him right in the face. "Yes, as a matter of fact I was hoping as such."

The commander fell back first onto the deck among the other bodies that littered the deck. Obviously the only safe place left in the ship was the captain's cabin. I walked over to the cabin's door, and kicked them in, sending splinters flying outwards.

The entire cabin was deserted, but I saw something that was obviously meant for me. It was almost as if the twins foresaw the response I would have towards their assault on Arendelle. I saw a number of massive powder kegs strewn out over the room, and two dummies sitting in chairs, with a note attached to them reading "Merry Christmas, Assassin bastard!"

The clicking gave it away. I had hit a tripwire when I kicked the doors in. In a flash, I flew across the cabin's floor, and smashed through the stern window. The man of war lit up in a massive display of explosions as I fell into the water, then swimming back towards the ship. Why would the twins sabotage their ship just to kill me? And where were they if not on their man o war?

The ship sailed back towards shore. I jumped off onto the docks, realizing that this wasn't over. The twins wouldn't go to all this trouble just to end up with my sisters or me unscathed. It was almost as if they didn't even try to fight us.

However, when I saw the Southern Isle soldiers with their rifles trained on the Arendelle guards, I knew this wasn't over. I drew my blades and stabbed two of the firing line guards from the left side. After a short battle involving the use of making every guard shoot their own troops, and impaling the last one on his bayonet, I ran up to the castle.

Elsa and a group of guards were in the courtyard, Elsa sitting on the edge of the fountain. She was crying, the water in the fountain freezing, and snow falling all around her. As she was sobbing I came up.

"Jayus, Elsa. What the hell happened here?" I said as the guards outside carried their wounded towards the castle.

Elsa looked up at me, frosty tears on her cheeks. She didn't look furious at me for the second time that day. She only gave me a look of pure misery. "Anna. They took Anna!"

I fell to my knees. Those pricks were counting on this. They used the invasion from the water as a ruse to snatch Anna. And as I found out later, they didn't stop there. They took Kristoff with them, too.

"Son of a BITCH!" I thundered, punching the ground. "GAAAAAAAAUUGGH!"

* * *

"Our scouts are sweeping the woods for their camps." Said Kai. "There's no sign of them, but I would remain hopeful, Your Majesty." He knelt down in front of her, smiling a little. "It's what Princess Anna would want you to do."

Kai turned to me. "I don't understand what you were thinking, Connor, but you truly are a brave soul to take on that man o war's crew on your own. You have my thanks."

I nodded, sitting down beside Elsa. I didn't know what to really say to her. Normal people would reassure her that it would be alright, and that we would find Anna and Kristoff. But I couldn't be certain of that. The Templars were cruel people, and they had only just sent assassins to kill Anna weeks ago. I had no idea of what they would do to Anna now that they had her. It would mean war for Arendelle if they killed her, though.

"Look, Your Majesty." I said. "I know you blame me for this-"

"Don't." Said Elsa. "It isn't your fault, it's mine." Elsa sniffed. "I should have seen this coming. Ever since Hans, King Elias has made it his mission to take Arendelle from us. He thinks that this kingdom shouldn't be run by a blonde queen with ice magic and a bumbling fool of a sister." She glanced at me. "His words, not mine."

I smirked. "It would be much worse with me pulling the strings in this kingdom. I've spilt too much blood to really remember what death means for most souls. I'm a bastard born of lust, not love. I believe in anarchy, not the system of a controlling government or monarchy, and yet I try to connect with my only living family who are the only remains of Arendelle's royal family. And to top it off, I'm a- oh, what did you call me?- a cold hearted killer. I'm an Assassin, and the Southern Isles royal family are Templars."

Elsa seemed confused by my statement on anarchy. "I don't understand. Why try to connect with me? I'm the one in control here. This is order, not anarchy. Everyone is under my command to do what I say when I say it. No one is running wild causing chaos or openly opposing what I do with this kingdom."

"That's not what anarchy means." I said. "I believe in what a famous anarchist woman who once believed in. 'Anarchism stand for the liberation from the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals.' I believe that chaos and anarchy are two very different things. Anarchy means that everyone is free to do what he or she wishes to do, and are free to think whatever they want to think. It means that we can help each other without the obligation to do so simply because you or whoever it is that is in charge desires them to do so." I placed my hand over Elsa's, the chill spreading onto my hand. I ignored it, gazing into Elsa's pale blue eyes. "You desire a better world. One where people are free to choose what path they want to do. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"This is what the Assassins aim to do, and this is what the Templars aim to oppose. They want to build a world where they control everyone and make them think whatever they want. I joined the Assassins not just because my father was a legend in their past, but because I can't sit by knowing that I am capable of breaking the chains put down on the weaker souls. I can make a difference and bring hope to the ones who wish to be able to think for themselves. It may be our methods that are questionable, but let me ask you something very important, Elsa: is there any way to move a mountain aside from destroying it completely? The only true way to ensure that the Templars never hurt another soul is to take them away from this life altogether. I need you to understand that."

Elsa wasn't listening anymore, focused on the cawing that was becoming louder and louder. A raven landed before her foot. She was about to grab it when I pulled my flintlock and shot it. Elsa jumped back in surprise.

"What was that for?!" she cried.

"They train these birds to go right for the eyes once the receiver takes the note." I said, grabbing the raven's note. "It would have clawed your eyes out if given the chance."

Elsa read the note after I handed it to her. "It's their demands." She said.

"What do these bloody arses want?" I asked.

Elsa frowned, though much more directed to them, and not me. "The one thing they won't have: the throne."

* * *

The twins had given us the location with which we were to meet. No guards, just Elsa and I. I knew the woods well enough that I could guide Elsa to the place. She and I trudged through the woods, Elsa angrily brooding over the twins.

"They threaten my kingdom, shoot their guns at my people, and take my own sister from our home. They will know why I am the Snow Queen soon enough." She growled. I could hear the ground crackle and freeze with every step that Elsa took. I took out my flintlocks, making sure they both were loaded before holstering them again.

I always enjoy playing judge, jury, and executioner in these kinds of fights against Templars. However, given Elsa's distress, along with the sad truth that she never knew what taking a life truly meant, I had my doubts that I could let her kill either twin. Elias would surely have a reason to declare war against Arendelle if she did such a thing. However, against me, he would declare war on the people that lived in the darkness, ensuring that no innocents could be hurt.

The camp's torches cast large shadows on the tents from the trees. Southern Isle soldiers drew their rifles and aimed them at us as we entered the camp. But no one dared try to fire at either the Snow Queen or the White Reaper.

Fritz and Franz stood at the center of the camp with a fire between the four of us. It was a clear distinction of who of the twins was who. Fritz was bald and clean-shaven, with almost no hair on his head, spare his eyebrows. He was the older of the two. Franz had a thick black beard clinging to his square jaw. Both twins held either Anna or Kristoff at gun point with one arm wrapped around their neck.

"Finally decided to show yourself, Assassin!" called out Franz, smirking.

I lowered my hood, my narrowed eyes not daring to drop from the prick that now held my sister in his grasp.

"Let my sister go, twins!" cried Elsa. "This has gone too far already! We don't need war! This has nothing to do with either her or me! It has to do with the Assassins, and you attempted to invade my kingdom!"

"Exactly, Your Majesty." Spat Fritz. He pointed the gun at me. "We have a score to settle with him. This Assassin is considered a legend throughout his kind. The rest of us whisper his name in fear. But we would go down in history if we took him out. And the easiest way to do that was threaten an innocent!"

Fritz jabbed the barrel of the gun up against Anna's chin. Anna whimpered while Kristoff winced.

"We figured the easiest target was the most innocent person that our dear father could think of!"

"Let them go, fools!" I cried. "We both know that neither one of you are walking out of this alive. So I'll give you one chance. Drop your weapons, walk away, and crawl back to that set of cesspools you call the Southern Isles. Let the sisters go, because this truly has nothing to do with them."

Fritz flashed in anger. "This has everything to do with them just as it has to do with you! We won't give our baby brother the chance to take Arendelle, so we'll do it ourselves, and give you to our father. Now..."

Fritz jabbed the barrel of the gun against Anna again. This time Elsa spoke up.

"Stop! Just take him, and we can be done here. Asgeir for them."

Elsa would trade me away for her sister. While it hurt, I understood. But that trade wouldn't go down.

Franz smirked. "What do you think, brother? A fair trade?"

"Not even close. I'm settling the score with the Assassins. Let them realize that we hold Arendelle in ours hands already by taking it from this freak." Fritz gestured towards Elsa as he said this. I could see a tear fall down her face at that word. "Freak" sounded worse than "monster".

"Just watch how weAAAAAAAA!"

Elsa turned suddenly towards me. My arm was held up towards Fritz, with my Phantom Blade's crossbow open, missing the blade that was just in it moments ago. Now embedded in Fritz' shoulder.

Pandemonium erupted. Anna darted for us, and Kristoff elbowed Franz in the face. He ran for cover just as Anna ran into Elsa's arms.

"Elsa!"

"Okay, fannies!" I called out. "Negotiations are over! I'm going to give you all a chance to avoid getting every single one of your bloody gobs filled with steel. Drop your weapons now!"

The soldiers were not so cowardly. All of them drew their steel and prepared. The first one swiped his sword out widely and I tuck and rolled under, slashing my cutlasses across his back. I pulled out my flintlocks, shooting two other guards directly in their heads. The remainder of the soldiers all came in at me at once, but not one of them went without meeting the end of my swords.

The twins stood before me, both of them with their swords drawn, and Franz holding a flintlock in his other hand.

"How shall we deal with this Assassin, dear brother?" Said Fritz.

"I think that it's long past time we gut him and take his remains to our father. He would die at peace to see Asgeir's bones in front of him, rotting like an old apple."

Then I realized it. I had planned on killing both brothers, but I saw something else that would inflict much more pain and misery on them for less bloodshed. Half, in fact. But I needed a shot and I was out. The twins would not give me the chance to reload before I would have to take them both out.

I looked around quickly, thinking out my plan. I needed another gun, which I found halfway between the twins and myself, in the hands of a once living guard. Time to finish this.

Franz tried to shoot me, but I darted quickly enough that he missed miserably. I dropped to the ground, sliding across the dirt I grabbed the pistol still in the dead guard, pulled it out, and shot Franz right in the kneecap. Then I went for Fritz.

"NO!" Cried Franz, but too late to beg mercy on his best friend and twin.

* * *

Fritz knelt down in the dirt, the blood from his neck drenching his cloak. His white gloves were slowly being dyed with crimson as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"I had a chance to prove myself, Assassin." He gasped. "You easily get overlooked by many if you're the fifth in line for the throne. I was the sixth along with Franz to be inducted into a real cause!"

"Real cause, yes, but nowhere near a true one." I replied. "I seek a better world with the Creed. It's not a true form of peace and virtue, but it is the first steps towards a world with it."

Fritz laughed weakly, coughing up blood. "Remind yourself of that, when you stand at the top of the mountain of bodies, and you've obtained this twisted version of peace that you seek. I'm not alone in my efforts. My family will cry for war on the Assassins for this. You will not obtain your peace through blood and steel. You took more than my life. You took the one thing from me where I truly felt I belonged somewhere." Fritz fell back, dead in the dirt.

"To be a part of something bigger than oneself doesn't always mean that it's noble. Hvil I Fred…"

I grabbed the ring off of his hand just as I stood up from his dead body.

* * *

"You bastard!" cried Franz. "I will kill you for this!"

I saw that I could give the twins what I really wanted by taking away from each of them the one thing that made them the twins: the other. Fritz was ballsier than his twin, and therefore posed more of a threat. And he was also the one who had my own sister in his grip and threatened to kill her.

"Oh, shut up!" I extended my blade and pointed it at his neck. There was nothing he could do to stop this, as he was more focused on keeping the blood from his gunshot wound draining out. "And pass a message on to your family of shites. I will kill every last one of them if they so much as put a rowboat in Arendelle." I turned my flintlock over in my hand, and slammed it over Franz' face, knocking him out.

Anna stood back a few feet behind me. She was still shaken from what transpired. "You killed him…" She said.

I nodded. "There wasn't any other choice left, Anna. They wouldn't show any mercy on either of you. I promised myself and the Order that I would protect you as best as I could, and I will do whatever it takes to protect you."

Elsa approached me slowly. "One week." She said. "If you can truly prove to me that you don't mean us harm within one week, I will consider letting you stay."

I bowed my head. "Thank you, Elsa."

* * *

We returned to the castle at dusk. I spent the remainder of daylight in my room, staring at the ceiling. I didn't feel like going down for supper when the time came, and I just lay on my bed in silence. I had killed the first out of the Southern Isle Templars. If I continued on this path, I could eventually bring the true north to the Southern Isles and free them from their iron grip.

"Asgeir?"

I raised my head. It must have been well past dark, because Anna was in her nightdress, with a candle and it's holder in her hand. She sat at the edge of my bed. I sat up.

"How's Kristoff doing?" I asked.

"He's okay." She replied. "He's a little shaken, but I had the worse side of it."

I winced. "I wish that I was there, Anna. I could have stopped those scrubs from taking you right from here."

"That's why I'm here. It's not your fault for what transpired." She said. "I feel like I could have stopped them before they grabbed me. That there are a few things I could have learned to stop them from taking me."

This was leading to something, I realized. Something I wasn't sure about. "What are you asking me?" I said.

"I want to learn how to use a sword." She said. "And I want you to teach me." She paused. "Will you?"

I stared at Anna. She was taking a step. A step towards a path that I knew she would not turn back from. But she was right in one light: she could have defended herself, but she didn't know how.

"Yes." I said.


	5. Chapter 5: Rocky Road

**A/N: This chapter is supposed to take place exactly during the events of Rocky Road, and features characters who I think are clearly Assassins in the Enchanted Forest.**

Chapter 5: Rocky Road

The morning sun cracked through the trees as I wiped the dew off my face. Anna lay sleeping under the trees while I hunted for our breakfast. I heard the quiet pip of a morning bird as I slipped between the trees. Eggs could be good if they were clean enough. I looked around for the bird's nest, but got something else.

A pigeon flew right up to me and perched on the branch next to me. He had a note tied to his leg. I took it from him, then it flew off.

_"Master Asgeir._

_The news in Arendelle has gone from bad to worse. In the past week since you and Princess Anna have been gone, Queen Elsa hasn't been able to focus on anything aside from finding you. We're doing all we can to stall her just as you asked, but sooner or later she will find out that you put us up to avoiding your search._

_What's more, Prince Hans is in Arendelle now with a number of his brothers. Franz is among them, and he is looking for you. We will do what needs to happen. Only say the word."_

Anna didn't know about this. If Hans wasn't dead by the time we returned, (or IF we returned. I was concerned that we would never see Arendelle again.) we'd be walking right into the hornet's nest. I didn't give the messenger's note just one word. I wrote two on the back of the note: _Take them._

* * *

I jumped down from the trees just as Anna was stirring. She smiled as I put a couple logs on the fire. A successful hunt came with me.

"Morning." She said.

"Morning." I replied. "Hope you like eggs."

Anna nodded. "Sunny side up."

When the eggs were ready, I decided that the time was as good as any. Rumplestiltskin was watching us, and he may already know about the beans.

I looked around cautiously. Someone with my abilities could easily tell if someone of the Imp's abilities was watching us. We were still a three days journey from his castle.

I pulled out the pouch from my satchel, and held it out to her.

Anna looked up from her breakfast. "What's that?"

"Look in this, but don't touch the contents. And don't say their names. You know what they are."

Anna looked at the bag with suspicion, then grabbed it. She zipped it open, and peered in. Then she looked up at me.

"Is that-?"

"Exactly what you think they are. We Assassins carry them on our persons for a last resort. Now I need you to listen to me closely, Anna: He is not to be trusted. He will no doubt have the answers we seek, but you need to be really careful with him."

"You've met him?"

I nodded. "You have no idea the amount of contracts people have signed to kill him. But I've gone through enough attempts to know that he is immortal. He can't even be wounded. I tried to kill him once, and afterwards we called an uneasy truce and just decided to move on. Believe me when I say it was easier than most."

Anna shook her head. "Everything has a weakness. What's his?"

I bowed my head. "Even if I told you, which I won't, it would be pointless: he holds a Piece of Eden that gives him his powers, and he guards it with every living bone in his body. We'd never be able to get it."

The Piece he held, the Dagger, worked unlike any other I had seen before. It could work like the Apple, but with a twist: it could only control him. But it was the rewards that it yielded that could really make it different than the Apples or the Staff. He could only be killed by the Dagger stabbing him. Whoever killed him with it would gain his powers, that which could oppose even gods. All seeing, all knowing, all powerful, and never aging. I could only dream of the chance to truly match him. But to do so, I would need magic, something not worth the price.

"But this person could help us with Elsa and why our parents were on the voyage?"

"I would advise we find someone else, but yes. He can help us."

"Then what choice do we have?" She asked.

I stared at her, then sighed. "Not much."

"Why did you show me the package?" She asked, handing the beans back to me.

"It's well known by us in the Order that he plans on trying to travel to another land. One that I have been to many, many times over: A Land Without Magic. I don't know what he plans on doing there, but it must be nowhere near from good. He may be planning on unleashing an almighty evil on that realm, or start another war after they've suffered from several already. So I need you to know about this, because I am going to bury the beans."

Anna nodded. "You're going to hide them so that he can't take them from you. Good plan."

After burying the satchel, and rigging a trap for anyone else, should they try to dig them up, we set off. But I took one with me, and hid it in my boot's heel. I would need to come back for the beans, and a portal there would be vital.

"Why do you want to know about Elsa's powers?" Asked Anna.

I stopped suddenly. "What are you talking about?"

"You've got several reasons to accompany me: the Templars are after me, you're my brother who wants to spend some time with me, you can't sit still, etcetera, etcetera. You clearly have the same questions I do."

I nodded. "Yeah. And I have something to prove."

Anna looked back at me. "Who do you have to prove to?"

"The Coronian Assassin Order. They and the Arendelle Order have a close alliance since we used to be part of them. After Elsa gave us the resources, we started our own wing right in the kingdom. But ever since Ryan, they've had a hard time trying to move past it."

"But you provide the Assassins with tactical support with our spies. You send them out to throw off our enemies."

"Doesn't matter. They personally are afraid of Elsa. They aren't the only ones, and they know it."

Anna frowned. "Those guys need to grow up. Do they even know Elsa?"

"No. And they don't care. Some of us in the Order are afraid of magic. I don't have a problem with it. It all depends on the person. It's not magic that hurts people: it's who controls that magic that hurts people."

We started on our way again, doing what we could to avoid Queen Regina's Black Knights.

"Gosh." Said Anna. "This is nothing like Arendelle."

I nodded. "Welcome to one of my worlds. The queen has a bounty on my head right now."

Anna glanced down at me. "You weren't kidding, were you?"

"She has every right to put that bounty on me because of a simple reason."

Anna rolled her eyes, realizing she should have figured it: "She's a Templar."

"Every monarch of the seven kingdoms that have placed the bounties on my head are Templars. The worst of all is King George. He's tried to kill me personally many times."

"Asgeir, you really need to be spending more time home. You wouldn't be ticking off so many people if you were."

I nodded. "But I would be an Assassin before I am the Royal Spymaster, or even a prince. It's the life that I live. And people like King George need to be put down by me."

Suddenly, I heard a familiar cooing. I snatched the pigeon right out of the air before he clawed my face off. Anna looked down with interest.

"What is it?"

I looked down at the note, smiling. "Up for a little excitement?" I said to her.

* * *

I pulled back the brush to the road. My spies were right. This road would be ideal for an ambush on a target coming this way.

This message came from my Double Headers. They were a third type of contact I had in my connections with the Order. Elsa agreed to having me hire several Assassins to be spies for Arendelle, giving them the resources they needed, and I had better spies. They got their name for a simple reason: they wore the head of a spy, and an Assassin. Double Header.

The message said that a royal convoy was on the road heading right towards us, carrying over a hundred thousand Gold Pieces, and one of our big targets. Intercepting and taking out the convoy to kill the Templar could prove beneficial, especially with Anna and I out in the open with giant targets on our backs in desperate need of taking out prying eyes.

I darted back to Anna, sitting on David's old horse. "It's risky, but no doubt you and I can jump them with the right plan."

Anna slid off the steed. "What's the plan?"

"Hope it involves us!"

Anna and I jumped as I pulled my blade out. Six men in green hoods stood before us, two of them with bows. They pulled their hoods down to smiling faces.

"Thought we'd meet up again, Asgeir!"

I couldn't believe it. "Rob!"

I grabbed the blonde's hand in a shake as he approached, laughing. As soon as I let go of his hand, I felt a hundred pound force lift me up and crush my ribs.

"Ow! Okay, Little John!" I cried. "You can put me down!"

Robin laughed again. "Little John, you can put him down."

Anna snickered as John set me down. "Friends of yours, Asgeir?"

I grinned as I put my arm around Robin's shoulder. "Anna, this is legendary thief, Assassin, and Mentor to the Merry Men Wing of the Order, Robin Hood of Nottingham. Robin, my sister, Princess Anna of Arendelle."

Robin grinned at Anna. "The famous Princess Anna." He took her hand, bowed, and kissed it. "A pleasure." he said, slyly.

Anna blushed as I rolled my eyes. Always the charmer, Robin, even with his wife Marian. I only met her once, and she was just as much a fighter as her husband.

"So you got the same message I did, Robin?"

"Aye." He replied. "The caravan is transporting one of Prince John's closest allies and over a hundred thousand gold pieces."

"Prince John." I groaned. "There's something about you that makes me think you and him were destined to be each others' worst enemies in our war."

"You said it. So the caravan approaches?"

"In an hour according to my spies. They'll be crossing through on this road. I was just going to go over the plan with Anna."

Robin laughed. "No offense to your skills, Asgeir, but without us, you'd have no chance against the caravan. They just had a recent update in their armory. Those new rifles will punch holes in your armor. A two person assault wouldn't work out, and neither would six. Eight, however, is perfect. Can I count on your help?"

I was excited to be working beside Robin once more, but I knew one thing. "We both want different things out of this, Robin. You're raiding this caravan to take the gold. I'm in it for both the gold, and the Templar. Neither are escaping my reach."

"Agreed. Now I hope Anna knows something about diversionary tactics?"

Anna shook her head. "Asgeir's only been teaching me the offensive skills so far."

Robin smirked. "Indeed. Care for a crash course in Diversions 101? Alan!"

Alan-A-Dale, the minstrel of the Merry Men walked over. "Real simple, Highness." He said to Anna in his old southern accent. "Just stand by me, and hold out yer hand for coins."

I grinned. "Beggar's Sleight of Hand. A modern classic!"

Anna looked at Alan confused as he gave her an old tattered burlap hood.

"Don't let them see your sword, and don't say a word. Let me do the talkin'."

"Excellent, Alan." Said Robin. He placed his bow on his shoulder. "The rest of us, take positions in the trees. Asgeir will go first."

* * *

Right on schedule, the convoy appeared. It had four soldiers leading with their rifles in their hands, flanking a large chest being pulled on a platform carriage by two slaves. Very small boys with that look of despair in their eyes.

"We break their chains along with the gold and whoever's in that carriage, agreed?" I said.

Robin nodded. "Those lads will do fine with me."

There were four other soldiers on horseback flanking the carriage. The hubcaps on it's wheels bore the Red Cross of the Templars. They just couldn't resist showing off, could they?

Alan and Anna stepped out onto the road as Alan started playing his song.

"Just a couple peasants on their way into the village/oo de lally oo de lally/ golly what a day." He sang.

Anna held out her hands, the hood covering her head, but her braids were sticking out. I was worried it would blow our cover.

"Alms..." She murmured. "Alms for the poor."

That was my cue. I jumped down from the tree behind the convoy as it stopped. The back of the convoy was taken by two more guards on horseback. I flicked my wrists, the Rope Blades pulling them off as their heads fell into the muck. Then I stuck my swords into them to make sure they didn't get back up.

"What's this?!" Cried a snooty voice from the carriage. "Who dares stop the convoy!"

The coachman looked down into the carriage window. "Pardon sir. But it's beggars."

"I don't care!" Cried the voice. "We cannot spare a piece to them. Don't even consider it. Carry on!"

Anna didn't move, and neither did Alan. They both held their hands out, silently pleading for kindness from them. Anna knew what I knew: that voice sounded familiar.

The guard at the front of the convoy glanced at them. I couldn't see what expression covered his face from the back, but judging what he did next, it wasn't sympathetic. He loudly spat towards Anna and Alan.

Anna dropped her hands in shock. I glanced over at Robin, who was silently taking out one of the rear guards. He waved his signal to me just as I did the same.

I stuck my blade in between the carriage's door and the frame, and snapped it open. Then I slipped in, pulling my flintlock out.

"Hello, mate!" I called out as the passenger shrieked like a little girl.

He had light gray hair and a matching mustache, with little glasses on his nose that seemed to magnify his eyes to the size of bowling balls. He wore a black coat with a red sash. I smiled at the pleasant surprise of the identity of my target.

"The Duke of Weasel Town! A pleasure!" I smirked as the Merry Men emerged from the trees to get the guards.

"How many times must I say it: it's Wesleton!" He cried out. "Show some respect, Assassin."

Robin stomped loudly on the roof of the carriage as he stood up on top of it. "Alright, lads! We're taking everything they have! Asgeir! You have our target?"

I looked up towards the roof. "Right here. He's not going anywhere. Anna!" I called for my sister.

Anna ran over, and her eyes widened at the sight of the Duke. "He's one of them?" She exclaimed.

I nodded. "Knew about him for a good four years now. He's not really a member as much as a sniveling moron in the lower ranks."

The Duke stared hard at me and Anna. "It's so like you to keep to the company of monsters, Princess Anna. How is your sister by the way?"

Anna glared at him, ready to jump him. I held my hand over to cut her off.

"Not until Robin and the others have all their gold. Then you can punch him."

Anna nodded as she backed off.

I leaned forward, my flintlock dangerously close to the Duke's head. "I'm only going to ask you this once, Duke. So you better answer me truthfully: King George. What is he planning?"

The Duke nodded as he quivered. It looked like he regretted his choice of words from what he said last. "He's been scouring the kingdoms. He needs a bride for his son to ensure their bankruptcy is finished."

I scowled. Prince James was the carefree son of Prince George. While I had never seen James, or a portrait of him, I knew that his father was teaching him the ways of the Templars. George was my head target to kill once I had eliminated enough of his influence over the realms. Ezio had Cesare, Connor had his father, and I had George and Elias.

Robin appeared in the door of the carriage. "All the gold is in our satchels." He glanced at the Duke. "You will feed Nottingham well, Your Grace. You should be proud of your generosity."

Anna leaned over, socking the Duke in the jaw. He cried out, almost ready to bawl his eyes out like a little kid. Anna laughed as she got out of the carriage.

"You're not coming?" She said to me.

"He's still a Templar, Anna. I need to do this."

Suddenly, the Duke stepped over and punched me in the throat. I fell over onto the floor of the carriage, my head hanging over the stairs in the door of the carriage, while the Duke started screaming.

"Help!" He cried. "Move the carriage! Move!"

I heard a "hiyah!" And felt the carriage jerk as it shot off. Robin hadn't bothered to remove the coachman like I had thought he did. Anna yelled for me, but I was so shook by that very hard punch, I couldn't respond.

Robin and the Merry Men sprang into action, jumping onto a few of the horses that were part of the convoy. Anna joined Robin on his horse as they gained on the carriage. The rest were taken by the unarmed guards as they headed off to protect their lord.

The Duke held me by the collar of my hood. "You could have shown true greatness, Assassin! Joined us instead of continuing the damned legacy of your father!"

I bared my teeth and head butted him. "Don't talk about my father like that!" I cried out as he staggered back, his nose bleeding. "He ate rats like you for breakfast!"

"Asgeir!"

I looked out the open carriage door as Anna and Robin rode up. Robin stared at me with certainty.

"Do what you do best, Asgeir." He said.

I nodded, and pulled my bow off my shoulder. I nocked an arrow, but as I pulled the string back, I looked up to see only an open door on the other side. Did the Duke bail?

I looked out the door to see him literally squawking like a parrot at me as one of his guards had him on horseback. All the rest had their pistols trained on me or the other Merry Men.

I climbed up onto the top of the carriage. The coachman was up there, and he was ready for me. He swung at me with a rifle's broken bayonet, trying to knock me off. I then pulled a quick movement to avoid the coachman, and take out one of the guards.

I jumped, falling straight downwards to the edge of the carriage. I grabbed the ledge with my right hand, spun left with precise speed on a pivot, and open fired on the guards with the flintlock in my left hand. The coachman had tried to swing at me so hard, he fell off as I grabbed the edge, and ended up on the ground as the guard I shot fell.

"Get him!" Cried the Duke. "He's a monster!"

That asshole really liked to use that word for my family. I furiously vaulted up to the carriage roof, formulating the end of the scheme. The Merry Men had their gold, the guards had most of their weapons taken, and now all that really remained was killing the Duke. I knew just how to do it, too.

Quick as Robin taught me, I took out my bow and pierced three guards on the horsebacks, one by one. Each flew off his horse as the arrows shoved them off into the dirt.

"Stop him!" Yelled the Duke. "He must not escape!"

But I wasn't trying to escape. I pulled out my air rifle. I often thought of Shay Cormac and how he used it whenever I looked at it. The only thing I truly respected him for was that his use of it forced us to put our focus into perfecting stealth weaponry like the rope dart and going back to old fashioned weapons like the bow. I also had a grenade launcher attached to the rifle, just as he had.

Keif was always trying to test new types of projectiles for our weapons, and this was a recent invention. A cratering grenade. It was exactly what I needed. As it sounded, the explosive would cause a massive crater to form in the ground, potentially stopping any big threats. Soldiers in the Land Without Magic used these to combat tanks. It would be too obvious to try and shoot at the Duke. He would anticipate something like that, and I only had one shot. I had a better idea.

I took the reins of the carriage, and picked up speed. "Hiyah!" I cried out. The horses picked up speed to a blur. The forest off the road seemed to fade into a dark green canvas with patches of light from the sun cutting through the trees.

The Duke and his men followed suit, gaining on me. I watched them, but not to give them a death stare. I was brushing up on my physics.

Anna, Robin, and the Merry Men were right behind the guards. Little John pulled out his bow, readying to shoot.

"No, Little John!" Called out Robin. "Let Asgeir do this. I think he has a plan."

Indeed I did. But I would need to tap into all my abilities from the Assassins. Could I pull it off? I didn't want to think about calculating the odds of reaching this, but my chances seemed very low. But I wasn't calculating odds. I was calculating velocity.

As soon as I knew I was at the right speed, I did it. I unhooked the horses, and pulled the right rein, making them move right to get out of the carriage's way. It was going so fast, it rocketed past the horses. I pulled out my rifle, and shot the cratering grenade. The carriage couldn't slow down nearly enough for what happened next.

I jumped to the back of the carriage as it hit the crater, turning the symbol on my blade. The speed of the carriage along with the force of it crashing into the crater slammed me into the air a good twenty feet above the ground with the carriage acting like a makeshift catapult, with me as the projectile itself. I lost my breath, my hearing, and my heartbeat in less than a whole second, but I just did what I could right then. I looked off to the right, spotting the tree I needed to get. I shot the Rope Blade out, the rope latching me onto the tree like a tether ball as I curved around the tree with the speed of an eagle as it dove for it's prey. I flew from the carriage, to the right of it, was yanked towards the forest, just barely brushed up against the bark of the oak beyond the tree I was hooked to that nearly became my murderer, and slingshot right back around towards the road. I flew. I really knew what it felt to fly. Ezio had Davinci's machine, but I felt the thrill of truly flying like an eagle.

The Duke's last words were "where did he go?!" as he stopped the horse. Then came his scream as I shot towards him, the rat helpless to stop the eagle.

* * *

"What kind of sorcery was that?!" He cried as he clutched the two puncture wounds on his chest.

"No sorcery, weasel." I said proudly. "Physics. Where Elsa has her ice, I have my steel. And I am below only a few in the art of assassinations."

The Duke spat blood at me. "You're nothing but a monster. And so was your aunt!" He fell back, leaving me flabbergasted.

* * *

"What did you say?!" I cried out as I grabbed him by the collar. "What are you talking about?! Tell me!"

But it was no use. Death was a one way door: one way in, no way out.

Anna stood above me, her mouth open in amazement. "What was that?!" She cried happily. "I mean, that was obvious something bad." She looked down at the Duke. "But I mean, what was that?! How did you do that?!"

I just looked up to the tree I had used. She hadn't heard what the duke had said. "I have no idea. It just came out of instinct. I had the cratering grenade, and a Rope Blade. Had to use them both however I could."

I kneeled down on the Duke's body, taking the glove off his hand. I yanked his Templar ring off, murmuring "May the Father of Understanding forgive your failure..."

"That was truly spectacular, Asgeir." Said Robin as he grabbed my hand in a shake. "Not even I could have done such a feat."

Anna then gasped. "We left David's horse behind!"

I shrugged. "We should let it be." I said. "Now he can run free as he wishes."

Robin reached into his pack, and pulled out a burlap sack that could fit in my hand. "I know it's not much, but I think that you at least deserve a cut of the gold. The rest will go to the people in these villages."

Anna smiled at Robin. "If you ever need help, Arendelle is a true safe haven for Assassins. Elsa, Asgeir and I will welcome you with open arms and Olaf will with a warm hug!"

I sniggered at the thought of Robin being hugged by that snowman. What a sight that would be.

"What about those guards?" I asked, glancing at the men on the ground with their hands to their heads, the Merry Men with their steel pointed at them.

"We will deal with them. Is there anything else you require?" He asked.

"We need to find Rump-"

"His castle." I interrupted Anna before she did something she would regret.

Robin's expression changed to cautious. "Are you sure? Things haven't really improved since you last went there, Asgeir. He may have gotten worse."

"It's not me, Rob. It's Anna's quest. I'm just a guide."

Robin pointed off through the trees. "His castle is at the base of the mountains that way. You won't miss it. A good day's journey from here"

Anna curtsied as we headed off. Before we were out of sight, we turned to the Merry Men, placing our fists over our hearts. "Nothing is True..." We called out.

The Merry Men followed suit. "Everything is Permitted!" They replied as Anna and I went off.

An hour later, Anna started sighing. "I'm bored!" She groaned. "Are we there yet?"

I rolled my eyes. "There is a game I can teach you to pass the time." I said.

Anna glanced at me. "Oh yeah?"

I carefully looked around the forest. "I Spy with my eagle eye..." I began.

* * *

That night Anna and I camped at the base of a giant redwood tree, a fire between us. I watched across the fire at Anna as I played my harmonica. Quite possibly the only thing I carried on me that wasn't a weapon, Anna always loved hearing me play it, since she was the one who gave it to me. She smiled, lying down on the ground as I played. I played a melody I heard a long time ago in another land. One that when I heard it, reminded me so much of the songs of Old Arendelle from many years ago.

"Asgeir?" Said Anna, looking up at the stars.

I stopped playing. "Yes, Anna?"

"You've seen many sights throughout the lands. Tell me a story."

I smiled. "What kind would you like to hear?"

"Tell me one from the Order. You say that there are true legends that live on in you and the other Assassins. Tell me a story of an Assassin."

I smirked. "I know just the one to tell you."

Anna turned over a bit to watch me. I continued playing while stopping every once in a while to tell the story.

"Once upon a time, in a land without magic, there was a boy. He lived in a time almost five hundred years ago. A time where his world had just recovered from a plague. This land was one that held history for as long as those from there could even remember. His country was one called Italia."

"What was his name?" Said Anna.

"Ezio." I replied. "Ezio Auditore da Firenze. He lived life similar to you Anna, and yet very different. He lived like a prince, with a wealthy family, and all the comforts he could wish. He had two brothers, and one sister, a mother, and a father. His life was one that some of us can only wish for."

Anna stared. "This is going where I think it is, right?"

I nodded. "His father kept secrets from him. Secrets that cost Ezio his father and brothers. The Templars hung them on false charges, and Ezio fled his city to his uncle who lived in another town. Ezio's father had left behind a heritage for Ezio: he was an Assassin. Ezio began a crusade across his country searching for revenge. But as he fought, he found a better path, and he brought something to us that we will never forget."

"What was that?"

"By that time in every land, our order was fractured. It still is today, but the Templars had shattered us to splinters so much, it seemed unlikely that we could put the Order back together, much less defeat the Templars. But Ezio rediscovered our purpose. It's the purpose that drives all of us."

Anna smiled. "Love."

I nodded again. "Fraternal love. Love one another, and learn to accept each other as brothers and sisters. Love for people, and of cultures. 'Fight together to preserve that which drives hope, and you will win back your people' Ezio said. He said that the day before he passed away. It was those words that served as the final piece which reignited the sparks of our Order."

I sat up. "Anna, the life of an Assassin is no easy path. I saw that look in your eyes. It's clear to me that you would consider joining the Order. But it's also not the path I see that you were meant for. All I ask is that you see what it truly means before we return home. If you truly think that a family with two Assassins, one who has been one for all his life, and the other who think it the best life for her, then I will not stop you."

Anna shook her head. "You're right. It isn't the life truly meant for me. I only wish to see what it means to support a cause which claims one thing, but does another. To lead an order based on love, but handles affairs spilling blood at every turn. I know Elsa asks the same thing every day, ever since we met you. You're right, Asgeir: it's a rough life. But please just try to understand the decision. I'm my own person, and I want to make a true difference."

I nodded, then went back to my flute. Anna lay back, looking up at the stars once more, before turning over on her side.

"What about Connor? You clearly are a fan of his work if you used his name for an alias."

I smiled. "You are inquisitive."

Anna grinned. "It's who I am."

I went back to playing as Anna pulled out her sword, finally getting a better look at it. The blade had a slight curve to it, much like my own cutlasses, but not as dramatically. It was also thinner than my own, and had a small bit of Rosemaling carving lacing the base of the blade to the hilt.

"All the best swords have names." I said. "What are you going to name yours?"

Anna smiled. "Pick. Like an ice pick."

"We just love our ice in this family." I sighed, laughing.

"While we're on that subject, what are your swords' names?"

"Talon and Wing. In my opinion the most important tools of an eagle." I replied instantly.

Anna smiled. Then I remembered my souvenirs in the past days: The Templar rings I had taken from the Duke and Bo Peep. I pulled them out, and my chain. It was a chain necklace with a huge number of rings.

Anna stared at it in awe. "Are those...?"

"Templar rings." I finished. "I am part of one of the few Assassin Orders that practices this hobby. Every time I kill or defeat a Templar, I take their ring and add it to my chain."

"I count at least ten on that chain there. But that doesn't seem like much."

I grinned. "Some of us need more chains. I have taken a good sixty, plus the fifteen on this chain." I looped the two new rings through the chain. "Now seventeen."

"Why wouldn't their father forgive them?"

I shook my head. "The Father of Understanding is their false god that they worship. We say 'Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted'. The Templars say 'May the Father of Understanding guide us'. But if a Templar is killed, or defeated by me, then I take their ring to signify that they have nothing but to hope that the Father of Understanding may forgive their failure to him."

"A trophy, essentially."

I tapped my nose. "Right."

* * *

After Anna dozed off I climbed up into the trees. I expected it would be coming any minute now, and sure enough, I received a response from the letter I sent this morning. The pigeon was waiting for me as I climbed up.

"Master Asgeir.

One could say that the deed was almost done, but something came up.

Hans sought an enchanted urn to take over the kingdom. It was said that it could trap magical people, meaning he meant to use it on Queen Elsa. But the urn wasn't empty when he found it in the cave it was hidden. It held another inside. One with the same powers as Elsa. She claims to be your aunt Ingrid through Gerda, her sister. She froze Hans and took the body, and is now living in the castle with Elsa. How do we proceed?"

I shook my head in disbelief. Everything I read was too much to handle. Someone beat the Assassins to the target? There was another who had Elsa's magic? Was this the aunt that the Duke knew of? What was going on?!

Then I remembered it. I read the story from the Land Without Magic when I was first using the magic beans. I was seventeen. It was a fairy tale written by another man named Hans. It told of an evil witch with snow powers that took a young boy from his home, and the girl he loved. I always believed Elsa was this world's version of that queen, but not with the evil mirror magic or abducting boys. Now we had another, and that didn't mean good news. It meant she could be just as nasty as the one from the story.

"Keep your eyes trained on her, but do not engage. We need to find out what she's after." I wrote back.

It always took a few minutes to write messages. We used a special cypher to ensure the Templars never intercepted our orders and stopped us. With that, I threw the bird up into the air as he made his way back to Arendelle.

An aunt, huh? There were some questions I had to ask Matthew since he admitted to me that there were things that he had kept from me for my own safety. Was this one of those secrets? Who was this woman, this Snow Queen?


	6. Chapter 6: Past-Rogue Part 1

**A/N: Merry Christmas! A very short update, but with a good reason. I have been working hard on my Christmas fic, Asgeir and the Frozen Christmas for the past few weeks, and am now typing harder and faster than ever to have it finished by Boxing Day. It'll count for half of the flashbacks for this fic, as well as show some Christmas spirit. I've also been quite busy for the past few weeks with my job (I work nights), and it's given me little time to write anything in the past weeks. I'll try to work on getting more of this fic within the week. As for the starting scene, it's a reference to one of my own favorite scenes from Game of Thrones.**

Chapter 6: Past-Rogue Part 1

Shay Patrick Cormac. Of all the most famous Assassins in the history of the Order, I think he stood out among them all. He was a former Assassin who became the Templar responsible for the First Purge. He killed so many of the Order, and nearly wiped out our efforts in the colonies. It's why I admire Connor Kenway so much. Because he dug us out of that pit that we were buried in. I may not have been alive when he saved us, but he was my brother all the same. Connor became the person I strived to be just like, and Shay became the perfect example of what I didn't want to see out of myself. To lose faith in the Creed is a perfectly reasonable course. We all face it in our lives. All of us. But to lose one's faith and pursue the course that held the whip is what made me lose all respect for him. And that is what made us so cautious about those who questioned the Creed. Who's to say the next person who lost their faith would become another Shay?

I held both the swords in my hands, feeling the moisture of my sweat on them. I had been holding them for quite sometime when I arrived. Anna Had requested that we start practice today, but she hadn't shown up yet. Oh, the irony.

At last, my dear half-sister appeared. Without turning my back from her, I said, "You're late." I turned. "What say tomorrow you are here at noon?"

Anna looked a little puzzled. I had little experience in teaching, but I knew that my kind of teaching was a bit firmer than which I actually was. Almost as though I became a completely different person when I taught.

I held out one of the wooden practice swords, and tossed the other towards Anna. She reached for it lazily, but could not grab it before it clattered to the ground loudly.

I tsked. "Assassins gotta have quicker reflexes than that. Let's try to catch it tomorrow." I nodded to the sword on the ground. "Pick it up."  
Anna did so, but not properly. She grabbed it with both hands and held it very tightly. I shook my head.

"No. That's not the way. It's not a greatsword, so it shouldn't need two hands. See, I use two swords, one for each hand. One hand is needed, and one hand only."

Anna looked down on the wooden sword. I had it weighted for this specific purpose. "But it's too heavy."

I smirked. "It's only as heavy as it needs to be. I used a weighted sword like this for the same purpose you're going to use it: to make you strong."

I started walking around Anna in a circle. "Do you think that after using that same wooden sword for a month, a real one will be heavy as well?"

Anna shook her head. "No… I don't think so." Then she smiled, catching on.

I gestured for her to turn. "You're standing wrong as well. You're too much of an easy target! You know the right stance?"

Anna nodded, and turned with her right side facing me, and her sword in her left hand. Her grip looked a bit loose, but I knew that she could fix that too with my help.

I quickly measured with my own sword, noticing how Anna had the advantage in two ways. "You're skinny!" I said. "That's one way to make you a harder target. What about your grip?"

Anna held her hand out as she adjusted. It was just the way I wanted her to have it. I grinned. "Precisely. The grip must have a good balance between firm and gentle, as is our ways in our beliefs."

"But what if I drop it?"

To respond, I dropped the practice sword and whipped out my own cutlasses, I slashed with such accuracy, a few hairs of Anna's lovely red fell off. She barely had time to react before I sheathed my blades. "As a swordsperson, the steel is one with you."

Anna raised an eyebrow in thought. "Like a second head?"

I shrugged. "You can think of it like that, but I like to think of it more as an extra long, sharp arm."

Anna grinned. "That sounds much better."

"Now, can you drop part of your arm? Not a bloody chance in hell." I continued. "For fifteen years I have served the Order as an Assassin, and I have been a Master for half that time. I know things, and you must trust me, Anna."

Anna nodded, and we went back to the grip. I showed her carefully, on both hands.

"That is the correct grip."

Anna squeezed it tightly, then realizing her mistake.

"Anna, you aren't holding a battle axe! You're holding-"

"A needle?"

I was taken aback, but grinned proudly. "Precisely!" I said, laughing.

I walked over, and guided Anna's sword to point at me. "We have much to learn, but for now, let's make it real simple: you will try to strike me, and we'll see how you do."

I turned around, smiling as Anna cried out. She charged me, and I batted her off to the side gently.

Anna turned around, and I took my battle stance. Anna made a mistake in that instant, grabbing her sword with both hands. Her face went crimson as I flashed my eyes at her, and she corrected. She tried a low swoop towards me as she advanced, but I was ready once again. This time, my counter knocked her sword right out of her hands, and into the air. As Anna stumbled off, I grabbed her sword right out of midair. When she came back to the ring, I tossed her the sword, and she caught it without hesitation.

"Hm!" I nodded, smiling.

Anna poked her sword swiftly through the gap between us, but I responded by jumping off to the side, and tapping her with my own sword.

"You're dead!"

Anna rolled her eyes, and prepared for another strike.

I believe in a certain positive encouragement when it comes to training. Firm, fair, and friendly. While all those terms may sound contradictory, I find that if you can find the right balance between those three, teaching can make things much easier for whomever you are training. Anna felt my encouragement, and I am proud to say that she got a few lucky shots. Eventually we sat down at the edge of the ring to rest.

Anna ran her fingers over her face. "Since we're on the subject of swords, can I ask about those?" She was referring to the scars on my face.

Scars can either look ugly, or cool. I often wondered which mine were, but I liked them. I had two that met each other at one point on my face. The first went down my left eyebrow down into a curve just below my nose. The other went from just below my right eyebrow, across my nose. The two of them almost seemed to form a warped "X" on my face. Or a tilted "V". Whichever way you looked at them.

I pointed at the eyebrow scar. "This lucky bastard was the first Grand Master Templar I ever killed. Let's say he put up a lot more of a fight than I was expecting."

Then I pointed to my nose. "And this, well. This is what I get for being held at knifepoint, and head butting the guy who held the knife to my throat. He missed slitting my throat by a few inches."

Anna ran her finger over it. "They look like they belong there." She shook her head, wincing. "Did that come out wrong?"

I smirked. "I get it. It's a sign of weathering over the years as an Assassin. That's what you meant, right?"

Anna nodded. She could learn to relax once in a while and think before acting. Hell, there were a lot of things I could teach her.

"You know I don't entirely approve of this, Asgeir."

Elsa was starting to (ahem) cool off on me and began talking to me much more. But of course, she still didn't entirely trust me. It was suppertime that night at the castle, and this time we were alone that night with no guards.

"Elsa, I personally think that it's more up to me than yourself, now isn't it?" said Anna.

"Anna, I know. But couldn't we get the guards to teach you some of this stuff? They might prove to be better teachers."

I snorted. Wasn't that just a pathetic joke.

Elsa sighed, trying not to notice my snide attitude. "Look, I'll say yes to this as long as you're coming out of this with no scratches. But you have to promise me, Asgeir, that she will learn the proper skills on stopping those fools from the Southern Isles."

I bowed my head. "On my life."

What soon after that conversation sparked a catchphrase between Anna and me: "Don't tell Elsa."

Kai then entered the room. "Your Majesty." He bowed as he stood next to Elsa's seat. "I hope you've found everything to your expectations tonight?"

"Yes, Kai." She replied. "Everything was delicious."

Kai nodded to me. "Wonderful to have you again, Master Connor." He turned and made his way out of the room with as much sound as myself during a regular infiltration.

It was as I saw Kai that it hit me. He was one of the only seven to see me born, and still working for the royal family. He and Gerda were all that remained, thanks to Agdar's reduction of the castle's staff back when he hid Elsa's magic. He was the closest the girls had to a foster father, and they trusted him. Why couldn't I trust him, too?

As Anna and I headed up to the living room to go over plans for her training, I mentioned this to her.

"Kai's been in service to this family since my grandfather Harald was king. His own father held the position until he passed, and Kai took over for him. I trust him more than anyone other than Elsa or Kristoff. If you're considering this, know that Kai will be the one to keep this secret to his grave."

I couldn't really find a response to that statement. I've kept this secret my whole life. Could I keep this streak up and learn to trust more?

"By the way," Said Anna. "It's time for a rematch!" She pointed down at the table between us, the already-set chessboard down. I couldn't help but smile as I noticed the kings: both head crosses snapped clean off.

Anna had done her homework into chess over the past few days, because this time she lasted much longer.

"This game is much like swordplay in a different perspective." I said. "Each piece reflects the chances you have in a duel, and it really sharpens your concentration." I explained.

"So I guess it's good that we've already started playing now?" She asked.

I nodded. "Precisely."

I wanted to finally talk to Kai about my secret as soon as I could, but something held me back. But what I didn't know was it was that had my grip on me. It turned out it was the last thing any one of us needed that didn't come from the Southern Isles: One of my own brethren.

He climbed up into the crisp autumn air from his cabin as the ship slid into port. With the men hustling and shouting, he jumped off the deck onto the wooden port. Walking over to the harbormaster's quarters, he rang the bell loudly.

The harbormaster did not like to be awoken so late, until he saw what my brother was paying.

"What do you need, sir?"

"Directions to the village."

"Must be important business to be attended at this time of night."

The hooded man before him grinned. "Let's just say, what has been sowed must now be reaped."


	7. Chapter 7: The Apprentice

**A/N: The latest review said that I should update soon since the Frozen arc is done on the show. I coul****dn't agree more. But we all have those weeks (or in my case a whole 2 months) of extra shifts and barely any time to write. I've been writing as ****much as I could in the last few days since I've had them off, and now I have this chapter ready. I hope to get the next one up soon. Unrelated pro tip: never, ever take a casually scheduled job if you want a part time job. They are completely different things.**

Chapter 7: The Apprentice

tAnna and I walked slowly up the steps. Rumplestiltskin's estate was massive compared to most, even larger than our own castle.

"Any advice for me? You've seen this man before." Said Anna.

I scoffed. "This freak is the furthest thing from a man you will ever meet. All the same, mind your Ps and Qs, speak clearly to him, and whatever you do, don't say the word 'anything'."

"Anything?" Said Anna.

"You'll understand what I mean later."

Anna reached for the door, but noticed it was open. She shrugged, and we walked in.

I damned myself for not thinking of someone else we could go to for advice. The Serpent seemed to be the only person in the land that people approached when it came to these kinds of problems.

"Rumplestilskin?" Called Anna. "Are you here? The door was open!"

We then heard that squeaky voice echo. "End of the hall! First door on your right!"

We walked down the hall, myself watching carefully for any traps. This guy was worse than any Templar I had ever killed, except he wasn't one.

"Come on in, dearie! You and your...escort!" He said.

Anna and I walked into the room. A massive table sat at the center with a chair facing away from us at the head.

"My name is Joan, and this is Connor. We were hoping you could help us-"

Anna gaped at the sight of Rumplestiltskin. His face like that of a toad's, with yellow eyes and rotting teeth. He looked just as freakish as when I last faced him.

"Is there something wrong with your skin?" She said.

I winced. "Why do you talk?!" I snapped. "What did I tell you as we were walking right in?!"

Anna nodded, a little shook off by my tone. "Sorry! It's not that there's anything wrong with-"

Rumplestiltskin stood up. "Your name isn't Joan, as isn't his Connor. After all, I never forget those who tried to kill me." He glared at me as he said this.

I wasn't just someone who tried to kill the Snake once. I was also the only one that I knew of that wanted to see his head hit the floor more than anyone else. But I didn't know the pirate yet. I wasn't just afraid of Rumplestiltskin. I was bloodthirsty.

"Names are my stock and trade, dearie. And yours is Anna, of Arendelle." He pronounced the name of the kingdom with a big emphasis on the A.

"And your 'traveling companion' is Master Assassin Asgeir Swortssen." He stared at me with such an evil grin, as if he knew something I didn't.

"No need to keep secrets from me. I know more about you than you think." He said, looking Anna up and down as he circled us.

"Then you know why we're here." I said, staring him down with my glare. Where was the Piece? It wasn't in his hands like last time.

"Yes, yes." Replied Rumplestiltskin. "You want to know why your parents ventured into this strange land."

Anna nodded. "My sister thinks it was because of her, but I know she's wrong. Can you help us?"

The imp grinned. "As it happens," He said. "your parents paid me a visit in their journey. It would seem when one needs answers, I'm the face to go!"

I damned Agdar's foolishness. Make a deal with the devil? You could ask him for a dollar and he'd still screw you over for that. Rumplestiltskin always said he only broke one deal in his life, but the truth was he broke more deals than I broke arms. He made his deals so carefully worded, that he'd always get the better end of the stick.

Anna frowned. "What answers did they seek?" She asked.

"Well I can't just tell you, dearie." Replied Rumplestiltskin.

I scoffed. "The hell you can't. You just want something from us in return."

Rumplestiltskin glanced at me with piercing yellow eyes. "I'd keep quiet, Assassin. Otherwise I'll take your 'silver tongue'." He sneered.

He turned to Anna, paying no attention to the look of shock on her face. I guess she didn't expect such hostility from either of us.

"You see, aside from names," he continued. "I also have a speciality for making deals."

Oh hell... Don't do it, Anna. Don't say it.

"A deal?" Anna nodded. "Sure. I'll make a deal. I'll do whatever it takes to help my sister!"

"Anna, no!" I cried.

Rumplestiltskin shot a look at me. "I said quiet!"

He flicked his finger at me, and suddenly I felt it. He didn't take my tongue, but I couldn't speak. And I figured it would be for a while. But I wouldn't have taken back what I said that lead to my silence. I hated Rumplestilskin more than most could dream of. There was just something about him that ground my gears. Maybe it was his taunting from last time with my heart.

Anna glanced at me, but said nothing, clearly too frightened to say anything out of line.

The snake conjured a small bottle into his hand. "At the foot of the dark mountains," he said, creepily. "Lives a very old man. Prickly sort, probably eats children for breakfast."

I narrowed my eyes further at him, if that was possible. Ate children for breakfast? Well, isn't the pot calling the kettle black?

"I need you to put this in his tea." He held up the bottle.

Anna glanced at the bottle uneasily. "What will it do to him?" She said.

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "Sorry, dearie. That's not part of our agreement. Oh! Speaking of which!"

He flicked his hand, conjuring the massive paper with the damned line at the bottom: the dotted one.

"Sign here, and I shall tell you why your parents came to see me."

He held out the quill to Anna. "Do we have a deal?"

Anna looked at the quill, then at me. I shook my head. But Anna turned back and signed her name.

"Oh! Might as well, since he's been so quiet!"

Rumplestiltskin flicked his finger at me again, my voice coming back. I coughed, and cursed under my breath. My turn to say those words, although to myself.

"Whatever it takes," I said to myself in my head. "I will protect Anna from his slimy claws. I promised Elsa, and I promised Kristoff."

* * *

We were soon on our way. As we headed out towards the old man's house, Anna kept glancing at me. First it was every minute that Anna looked back at me, but then it started happening every ten seconds. Finally, I was fed up enough to say "What?!"

Anna frowned at me. "I've never seen you in such a bad mood, Asgeir. Unless you count that standoff with Ryan after we met. What happened between you and Rumplestiltskin? You warned me to watch I don't say anything out of line, then did it yourself."

I nodded. "It's different for me. I'm already on his shite list when I made that trade with him."

"What trade? I thought he made deals." She said.

I shook my head. "A year ago, not long after I visited for Elsa's birthday, I received orders to kill Rumplestiltskin. He wasn't a Templar, but he wasn't innocent as well. He terrorized so many souls, and they would sleep easy knowing that he would be dead. So I didn't ask question. But when I found him, things were not as easy as it should have been. I impaled him three times with my swords, and stabbed him once more with my hidden blade. Nothing could hurt him. And then he took my heart just as I pried the dagger from his hands."

"Took your heart?" Anna held her hand towards her own chest, like to pull her own out. "Like took it, took it?"

I nodded. "A simple trade. Not a deal: he give me my heart back, I give him the dagger, and we never see each other again. He then explained a few things to me as I held the dagger: the dagger controls him, so whoever holds it can make him do anything they will him to. It's also the only thing that will kill him. But killing him with it would make me the Dark One. I refuse to be chained, or hold the whip, so I made the trade with him. But he had to taunt me before I left."

I pointed to my chest. "If one were to pull out a person's heart, it would become enchanted. You could control that person, or kill them. You know how I feel about being chained. I especially lose my temper at chains I can't escape from, being the best at escape artistry."

"Rumple could've controlled me with my heart, but instead he pointed out the worst possible thing about myself I didn't need to know.

I stopped walking as Anna did so. I took one hand by her shoulder, and placed the other on her heart. "The Sight lets me see many things. I can see hearts without removing them. I've seen yours. It's as red as an apple. You never once let darkness get ahold of you, and that's what makes you special. Elsa has a heart made of ice if you can believe it. I'm also unique in terms of hearts, too."

Anna took my hand. "How so?" She said, comfortingly.

"Darkness." I replied. "If you let the darkness inside your heart, it only grows, and never leaves. For all my childhood I always hated your father for trying to kill me, and it gave me truly spiteful feelings towards the Templars. We offer them a prayer to them that they rest in peace when we kill them, but there was a point in my life where I didn't do so. Alone, hateful, and letting the darkness corrupt me every day, it only consumed my heart more and more."

I resumed walking, and Anna followed suit. "But then I met you and Elsa, and things changed. I hope you understand it when I say that you both put the light back into my heart. I saved your life, and you saved mine in return. It's what keeps me fighting for justice, and not revenge.

"But unfortunately, the darkness in my heart is still there. Once you let it in, it's there for good. When the Imp took my heart, I saw what it had done to my heart. I'm on the edge. Right on the line between killing for personal satisfaction, or for what's right. There were some Templars I killed because I wanted to kill them, not because I needed to. When I saw my heart, I saw how the conflict has reached it. Always beating. One beat, it's red as red can be. Another beat, and it resembles a piece of coal. Then another beat, and it's back to red. It'll always be that way, and I'm the only one with such a heart. Always trying to figure out what choice I make, and if it's the right one. That's the true conflict I face. But so far I've shown such resistance to the darkness that I can resist so much more."

Anna smiled. "Then we really are special. All three of us. Siblings of Arendelle, each with a heart as different as the three of us."

I smirked. Leave it to her to see the bright side of things. "I guess so. Rumplestiltskin took my heart a long time ago, and when he had it in his hands, he taunted me, saying I should stop jumping from one side of the coin to another, and let the darkness in. But I could never forsake my vows. I'm not like the Templars. I'm not like Shay."

"Who is this Shay?" asked Anna.

I glanced at Anna, and shook my head. "Another time, Anna. His story was the worst."

The small house that Rumplestiltskin told us about was coming up. It didn't look like something a nutcase that ate children would live in. In fact, it looked well kept and kind of cozy.

"Anna, I'd be careful." I said as she took the bottle out. "Whatever the Serpent gave you, it can't do anything good to the old man."

Anna nodded. "But what kind of man is this one?"

I sighed. "I have no idea. I don't have magic, so I can't truly know what's going on. Best I can tell is that Rumplestiltskin wants to liberate my head from my neck with his Piece."

Anna and I walked up to the front porch, and she knocked on the door.

The man who Rumplestiltskin spoke of opened the door. He seemed a little strange looking with his cherry red robe, and his long scraggly grey hair, but he looked at us with such kind eyes. I didn't need to focus my sight on him to know he wished us no harm, just as I had suspected. I lowered my hood.

"Can I help you?" He asked, kindly.

Anna nodded. "Yes. Maybe. I-I" She stuttered. "Can we come in?"

The man glanced at me for a second. Did he recognize my hood, or what it meant? Did he know who Anna was? I had no idea. The man only glowed blue as I focused on him.

He smiled. "I just put a kettle on the fire. Join me for tea, and biscuits."

Anna smiled, although I felt her unease as we stepped inside. The hovel was a nice place, and well kept for it's status. The thick smell of pastries wafted from the fire.

Anna noticed the biscuits as well. "Biscuits! You mean you don't eat children?"

I elbowed her slightly as the man chuckled. "Is that what they say about me these days?" He said, walking over to a corner. He picked up a broom and started sweeping. I had seen someone like this before in the stories. Wasn't it a movie in the Land Without Magic?

"Yes." Said Anna, foot in her mouth yet again. One day she might say the wrong thing, and I dreaded not being there to stop her. "No!" She corrected herself. "Well…" She glanced at the man. "Sorry…" She murmured.

"Pardon my sister, kind sir." I said. "We've traveled a long way."

He nodded. "It's quite all right." He said to me. "So what brings you both so deep into the woods, to the home of an alleged devourer of children?"

I noticed Anna was eyeing the kettle with concern. If she was to carry out the deed, the time was coming. Would I help her with such a task? It could mean betraying the Creed and the tenets. Although, kind people with ulterior motives weren't unheard of, here. I had to be on guard, and that could mean helping Anna. But she had to make her move.

"We're on a quest, kind sir." I said. "Helping our sister. But it seems we've lost the way."

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you wish." He said, not looking up from his sweeping. This all looked familiar, and it was right on the tip of my tongue. But why was I thinking about a hat? "I assure you, the biscuits are delicious," He looked up, grinning. "And they are made with flour."

Anna and I both smiled at that. At least this man had a sense of humor. As he went back to his work, Anna went over to the kettle. I had to do what I could to make sure the man didn't see her slip the poison in."

"So, kind sir. May I ask your name?"

He smiled. "Most don't know me by my name, and those who know me well enough only call me an Apprentice. However, you may call me Mick."

You have got to be bloody kidding me.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, that sounds like an Nottingham accent, sir." He said to me. "Are you from there?"

"Not entirely." I replied. "I was raised there, but we both come from Arendelle. My sisters were raised there separately from myself. Oh, where are my manners? I am Asgeir, Master Mick."

Mick smiled as I glanced at Anna. It almost looked like she deliberately spilled the vial into the fire as she stood up.

"Master!" Exclaimed Mick. "I am no master, only an apprentice. But all the same, you are too kind.

Anna turned to us as she stood up, an empty vial in her fist. I knew as she smiled, that she didn't come anywhere close to poisoning that vial. "Do you take sugar?" She asked pleasantly.

* * *

A while afterwards, after Mick gave us directions back onto the road, we returned ascending the steps to the snake's manor.

"I'm very proud of you, Anna." I said. "Very few have as strong a soul as you do to resist putting that crap into the man's tea."

"You were right, Asgeir." She admitted. "There has to be a better way to finding answers on what our parents were after."

We found Rumplestiltskin in the same chair we first saw him in, in the very same room. Anna filled him in on the situation, while I kept quiet. Anna did her best to make sure she kept her story straight, but as she said it, something felt off when Rumplestiltskin replied.

"So you poured it in the tea?" He asked.

"Just as you asked." She said.

"And he drank it?"

"Every last drop."

The imp cackled. "Good!" He laughed. "Then he'll live."

"So now can you tell me why my parents came-"

"What the bloody hell did you say, Imp?!" I snapped. I knew this was too good to be true. "He'll live?!"

"He'll live, because he drank the antidote you gave him!"

"Antidote?" Said Anna. "To what?"

His toothy grin showed off every bit of his rotting teeth. "Uh, poison?"

"I thought it _was_ poison!" She said.

"You son of a bitch!" I started to reach for my sword as Rumplestiltskin cackled again. Stabbing him with any of my steel wouldn't kill him, but it sure as hell would make me feel better.

"No!" chuckled Rumplestiltskin. "The poison's what he drank yesterday! What you had was the cure for that!"

Anna looked at him with horror, and then said "I didn't give it to him."

"Why not?" asked the toad. "We had a deal!"

'Cause you're a lying wanker!" I snapped. "You made her think it was poison so you could make an innocent kill another!"

"We have to make more antidote!" Said Anna, wishing that there was any hope for Mick. "We have to go back to the cottage! We have to help him!"

I pulled out my sword. "You do what she says, freak!"

Rumplestiltskin only smiled as he stood up. "I'm afraid it's far too late for that, dearie!" He waved his hand over the crystal ball, which I had only now just noticed, on his table. It showed Mick in his cottage, succumbing to the poison. As he keeled over it turned him into a- yes, you guessed it- mouse. A big-eared mouse.

"You bastard…" I muttered.

"Oh, look who's talking." He giggled at me. He turned on Anna. "You should have listened to me when you had the chance.

Anna could only watch with horror, a large piece of her innocence drifting away.

* * *

For once, I forgot about killing Rumplestiltskin, and headed off with Anna towards the cottage to make sure Mick was okay. She started looking frantically around as she opened the door.

"It's gotta be here somewhere…"

"Careful you don't step on it!"

We glanced up at Rumplestiltskin, who was already there. My first instinct was to pull out my flintlock, which I did. Anna was still hoping that there was bargaining with this devil.

"We have to find him! You have to change him back!" She said.

"Oh, but I can't, dearie!" He replied.

"Why?"

He grinned. "Because I don't want to."

BANG! The bullet sparked across the room from my pistol, and Rumplestiltskin keeled back, clutching his chest. For a second, he looked like he was dying from that shot. Then he grinned, holding the bullet in his palm. He dropped it, and continued what he was saying, but not after taking my voice once again.

"He was protecting something that I need." He explained to Anna.

Realization spread across Anna's face like wildfire. "You're the one who poisoned him!"

I tried to say "Bingo!" but all that came out was weezing. Rumplestiltskin giggled. Whether from what he did to Anna, or me, or Mick. I'll never know. He always seemed to be laughing about everything like a medieval Joker.

Anna was confused, as was I a little bit. "Then why did you send me there with an antidote if you wanted to turn him into a mouse?" She said in disbelief.

"Oh, it was never about him!" Said the serpent. "It was always about you!"

"It was all a test?!"

"And one you performed admirably!" He said. "You see, he's but the first line of defense. And what he protects is also guarded by an enchantment. A spell that can only be broken by someone who has been tempted by their inner darkness, and turned away from it. Someone just like you! And in the process, I made one of the Assassin Order's greatest warriors break a tenet of the Creed! Aren't you supposed to protect the innocent?"

Something of interest to Rumplestiltskin guarded by someone who's supposed to be a cartoon mouse, and with a lot more protection that I expected. Only one thing came to mind, and it wasn't a Piece of Eden. In the serpent's claws, that would be much more dangerous than a mere Apple.

For some reason, I felt my voice come back. Maybe he wasn't paying attention to me, or maybe he just gave up in trying to silence me. I was appalled.

"You used her! YOU MONSTER! I'LL MAKE YOU BURN FOR THIS!"

I felt the chain conjure out of midair, and it pulled me to the ground. My head bounced off the hard floor, and I heard a ringing as I held my head. But I stayed conscious.

"I knew you couldn't do it, dearie." Said Rumplestiltskin. "I knew you'd see the best in the old man."

Anna smirked. "I never faced my 'inner darkness'."

I suddenly laughed, realizing what she did. "Clever girl!" I cried.

"What?!" Exclaimed the serpent.

"As soon as I met Mick, I knew what I had to do. I could never hurt someone to get what I want. Elsa wouldn't want me to." She looked down at me. "And neither would Asgeir."

I smirked. "Proud of you, sister!"

"So I was never tempted by that…'inner darkness' you speak of. In fact, I don't even think I have one. I'm, unlike you, nice."

My heart sank as I saw the snake grin. "Well then, dearie. I hope you're going to enjoy spending the rest of your life locked up in my tower! As for your brother, I think I'll take him to my vault!"

Then he pulled out that damned paper. "It was part of our deal!" He said.

I grimaced. "Touch one finger on her, I cut your head off!"

"But we have to get back to Elsa!" She exclaimed.

"Then you should have never left home in the first place!" he taunted. "Imagine the guilt she will feel when you don't return home from your journey."

Bollocks. Always one goddamn step ahead of us! Anna realized what this meant for Elsa. She would blame herself for our disappearance, and be left to mourn over what we did. All because she let us leave.

"A journey you took because of her. She will finally become that monster everyone fears she is." He gasped. "I suppose the wedding's off."

I couldn't just lay down and take this. But I had to. The chains remained tight around my arms.

"No!" She cried, sword raised. I could almost see the potential Assassin in her spirit as she looked defiantly at Rumplestiltskin.

"Rip it up!" She exclaimed. "Rip up the contract, now!"

"Well, I can't do that, dearie." He said.

"The hell you can't!" I cried. "Don't do something you'll regret, imp!"

For the third time that day, he took my voice right from my mouth.

"I'm afraid the only way for you to escape your fate, is by killing me! And we know you're just too…nice."

Then I saw it. How he could keep making plans time and time again that seemed to just stack the cards in his favor, I never knew. But what I did know is that Anna forgot that a mortal blade couldn't wound Rumplestiltskin. She thought that she could kill him right here and now, and that would be it. And he taunted her to do it.

"Do it. Go on. Right through me. Do it!"

We all have darkness in our hearts. You're just playing yourself if you deny that. And Anna was looking right down into the endless chasm of darkness. I knew exactly where this was going, and either way, she would lose. If she tried to kill Rumplestitlskin, it would let the darkness in, and it would tarnish her heart. And if she didn't, then Rumplestiltskin would have his way to the hat. Either way, the serpent had pushed my own blood right into a trap with no escape, and it only did one thing to me: it had me put him right at the top of my list. I would find a way to kill him without magic, no matter the cost.

"Do it! DO IT! DO IT!" Commanded Rumplestiltskin.

Anna couldn't, even though she saw her darkness. She fell back, dropping Pick. She sat right beside me as I undid my chains.

"You'll burn for this, Rumplestiltskin!" I growled. "I will make you burn."

"I'd like to see you try, Assassin. Your sister may not have considered dosing the old man,but she just thought about killing me."

Tears started rolling down Anna's cheeks. Her innocence was cracked into pieces. Rumplestitlskin kneeled down to us. Then I saw the Piece. His dagger. He held it under her chin until a tear dripped onto it. He giggled with delight as he stood up, with what he came for.

"The tear of someone who has faced their inner darkness, and turned away."

Anna and I looked up as he grinned. "The love for your sister was all I needed."

Anna bared her teeth. "I should have known! I should have listened to Asgeir! You're a monster! You take the most precious thing in this world! Love! And turn it into a weapon!"

"Love _is_ a weapon, dearie!" Replied the devil. "Always has been! It's just…" He waved the dagger in his hand, a hidden trapdoor beneath the hay in the floor. "So few people know how to wield it."

Rumplestitlskin walked down into the dungeon, triumphant, while Anna threw her arms around me, soaking my hood in tears. I patted her on the back.

"It's okay, Anna. You didn't know. It's okay."

Anna noticed Pick at her feet, and thrust it into my hands. "Don't let me touch this again!" She sobbed.

I felt a little shook off, but nodded as she buried her face in her knees.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin returned shortly, holding something that didn't look like the hat. It was a small circular box with stars on it. I assumed correctly that the hat was inside, because I could hear the voices from it. Not of those who came before, but of something else. We both stood up as he climbed up the stairs.

"I helped you get what you wanted." She said, sniffling. "Now give me what you promised. Tell us about our parents."

Surprisingly, Rumplestitlskin kept his end. "Well, dearie, The King and Queen of Arendelle landed on my doorstep with an itsy bitsy problem: your sister."

Of course. Those damned Templars couldn't let what they couldn't control be in anyone else's hands. What if I got to Elsa first and brainwashed her with my anarchist ways? She would be an untold threat to them.

"They wanted something to take away her powers…forever."

Anna couldn't believe what she heard. "Our parents loved Elsa."

"Sounded more to me like they feared her."

Because of this Snow Queen aunt of ours. Something happened with her. Mother had seen this magic before, and it scared her because of something from her past.

"It's a thin line. It's oh so easy to cross." He said, taunting Anna again. "You must have known. They always wished she had been born a little bit more…normal."

"What the hell is normal, serpent?" I snapped. "It's only something to be ashamed of if that's what you aim to get out of life."

"Did they find what they were looking for?" Asked Anna.

"I'm afraid not." Said Rumplestiltskin. "No one could lay their hands on that kind of magic, until now." He held up the box for us to see.

"So that's what the box does." Said Anna.

"Not the box." He said. "What's inside. A hat crafted thousands of years ago by a sorcerer for one purpose: to steal magical power. And guarded all these years by his apprentice."

Speak of the devil, I started hearing whispers above my head, and as I focused, saw the little guy scurrying over the cross beams of the cottage right above us.

"What are you up to with that thing, imp?" I asked.

"When the hat has collected all of it's ill gotten power, and it's fully charged, I will be unstoppable."

Anna was confused. "But I thought the Dark One was already unstoppable."

He shrugged. "There are limits, however small."

I narrowed my eyes. "No. You can't, serpent. I've seen the power of the Pieces with my own eyes, and this is a whole new level. This is too much power for one individual. Mick dedicated his life to ensure freaks like you don't get their slimy paws on it."

"Too bad he's not here to stop me." He replied.

Anna grinned, already aware of what I heard. "What if he is?" She looked above, along with the toad. Mick jumped down, and bit Rumplestiltskin on the hand. He dropped the Dagger in that instant.

"Grab the Piece, Anna!' I cried, charging Rumplestiltskin. I grabbed him, holding his arms back as Anna held up the Dagger.

"Don't move!" She said. "I know how this works. Asgeir told me."

Then she looked at it in her hands. "Is that why you want the hat? To free yourself from the control of this dagger?!"

Rumplestiltskin didn't respond until I pinned his arm against his back like a playground bully. "Answer her, you craven!"

"To be free of the control and to keep my power!" He answered. "Yes!"

"Yeah, I can't let you walk out of her with that!" She snapped. "So please, give me the box."

I pried the box out of Rumplestiltskin's hands, and tossed it to Anna. "Give me the Dagger, Anna!" I said.

Anna carefully handed the Dagger to me, until I had Rumplestiltskin at the Dagger's point.

"Remember, dearie." He said to me. "You can't keep ahold of that Dagger forever. And you don't want to be at the other end of it when I get it back!"

"I'm not worried about me." I said. "It's her that needs to be sent back in one piece. You and I have some unfinished business! Send Anna and the box back home to Arendelle!"

Rumplestiltskin backed down. "If I must." He murmured.

"Wait!" Said Anna. "And also you can never hurt me! Or my sister or Asgeir! And you have to turn Mick back into a man!"

When he didn't respond, I poked him with the knife again. "Do as she said, serpent!" I snapped.

Rumplestiltskin held up his hand to send Anna back.

"I'll be there soon, Anna." I assured her. "Don't worry."

Anna nodded as she disappeared. I let go of Rumplestiltskin, the Dagger still in my hands. He screamed in anger of losing the hat.

"What do you want more out of me, Assassin?" He snapped.

"One question that you're going to answer: What else did Mother and Agdar seek from you?"

Rumplestiltskin frowned. "I am not questioning what you ask, but I never said that they wanted anything else out of me."

"You didn't need to. You gave it away when you kept glancing at me as you talked to Anna. I'm no fool. I know they wanted something else out of you aside from Elsa, and I know it involved me somehow."

"Yes." Growled Rumplestiltskin. "Yes, they mentioned you to me. I didn't know that their bastard son, and my would-be Assassin from a year ago, the White Reaper were one in the same until you came here with your sister!"

"What else did they want?"

Rumplestiltskin stepped forward, wanting to grab the dagger from me, but I held it up higher, forcing him to back off. I could hear the Ones Who Came Before coursing through the dagger. This was one of their many artifacts, and what I was hearing confirmed it.

"They wanted to forget you. They wanted you, a bastard Assassin, out of their lives as two high ranking Templars."

"Wait!" I cried in disbelief. "Gerda wanted to forget me just as much as Agdar?"

"Indeed." Growled the Snake. "She had been a Templar most of her life. Remembering that she had you, would only hurt her and Agdar's chances to become the Grand Masters of their Order."

"But then why not visit the trolls? They make people forget things all the time."

"Yes. But with troll magic, those inflicted by it don't have their memories erased. Their memories still remain, deep in their subconscious, only twisted with the trolls' magic. Gerda and Agdar wanted a potion that would make them forget you altogether, erasing you from their minds and their subconciouses, and the Templars' minds altogether. Yes they would see you, Asgeir, the White Reaper, butchering the Templars across the realms, but they would only see an Assassin, not their daughters' half-brother."

I stood there, appalled. In that moment, I lost all sympathy. I didn't have two parents that were now dead. I only had one, and his head was taken off by a Templar devil and his wife. She bore me so long ago, and now I understood. When I was born, Agdar didn't take me from her arms so that he could kill me. She gave me to him.

"Did you give it to them?"

"Indeed. A forgetting potion is a walk in the woods for me. I gave them the potion, told them that they could drink it when they left, and sent them on their way. They spent their last moments with not a single thought of you. And if you did cross their mind, it was only because you were an Assassin, not Gerda's first born."

I narrowed my eyes, defeated. "Send me back, you little prick." I snapped. "And if you come looking for any of my family ever again, I'll call the Assassins, and we will tear you apart. See if you survive that."

Rumplestiltskin raised his hand, and I felt the floor swallow me up from below.

* * *

I reappeared right in the courtyard garden at the castle. I just remembered then that my satchel with the magic beans were still in Misthaven, aside from the one bean hidden in my boot. I would have to come back for them later.

I figured I would find Anna with her fiancé. Sure enough, I walked right in on them kissing in the stables. Anna looked over at me as I walked in.

"Uh, I can leave if you want?" I said.

Anna laughed. "Asgeir, what took you?"

"Answers. Elsa wasn't the only reason they went on that quest."

"What do you-" Said Anna. Her eyes lit up with misery. "Oh…"

"They were full fledged Templars, Anna. How would it look like to the rest of their Order if it was discovered that Gerda's true living first born was a bastard Assassin?"

"Not good, I assume?" said Kristoff.

"They wanted something stronger than troll magic, and they got that from the imp. This whole quest was a dead end, Anna. I now know that our mother spent her last moments either wishing I was never born, or I didn't even cross her mind."

"Yeah." Said Anna. She turned to Kristoff. "Our mission didn't go as planned."

Kristoff winced. "So they did leave because of Elsa."

"They got on that ship because they were afraid of her." She said. "They wanted to change her. They were looking for a way to take away her powers. With this." She held up the box.

Kristoff sighed. "That is-"

"Horrible? Terrible? The worst news you've ever heard and the world might as well end right now?"

He shook his head. "I was gonna say 'bad'. But yeah, what you said. What are you gonna tell her?"

Anna wasn't sure, so I said it for her. "Nothing. We tell her that we found nothing about what their parents were looking for, and we don't bring up the box."

Anna glanced at it in her hands, and then looked at me. "Do you think-?"

I knew what she meant. "I'll need to bring this up with Matthew and the council. I haven't seen anything near this powerful, and neither has anyone else of the Order. We may have to hide it someplace we can only go once."

* * *

Anna and I both headed down the hallways towards the castle's lounge. With my birds sending me the messages that Elsa was worried to say the least about us, it was important that we see her as soon as we could. We entered through the open door, Elsa floating a large snowflake in her hand. She was in her official queen dress that day. I had a similar thing, where I had to wear a coat without a hood when I was at the royal council meetings. Elsa jumped for us as we walked in.

"Anna! Asgeir!" She cried. We embraced, feeling that joyful chill again. Even when she was happy, Elsa always had that cold aura surrounding her. "I was worried I would never see you again!"

"I'm afraid you're stuck with us!" Said Anna.

"Really, Elsa?" I said. "Anna had my help on the way. Keeping an eye on her is not as hard as you'd think."

"I'm glad you stepped up, Asgeir." She said. "It's what I would have wanted if Anna did end up leaving."

"I'm sorry we left without telling you." Said Anna.

"And I'm sorry I made it feel like you had to. I know you did it for me to try to make me feel better."  
"And to cut down some Templars." I added.

Elsa smiled. "So! What did you learn? Did you discover why our parents went to the Enchanted Forest?"

Anna and I shared an uneasy glance. One that Elsa noticed. "What is it, Anna? What did you find? Asgeir?"

I glanced at Anna, but she played it off just like I wanted her to.

"Nothing." She said, smiling. "I mean, I'm still waiting on some answers from a few people I met, but I wouldn't expect anything anytime soon, because they have to find it out, they have to get on a ship and come here. It could take a while, a long while, and-."

Elsa just smiled. With absolutely no snowflakes or frost gathering around the room.

"Well, I'll be damned…" I smirked.

"Wait! No flurries? No frost on the windows?"

"Looks like Elsa found something, too, Anna."

"I've been learning to control my powers when I get upset." Said Elsa, grinning.

"Really?" said Anna. "How?"

"By training with me."

I dreaded that voice for years to come. As Anna and I turned, we saw a tall blonde all in silvery white. She had a tiara of snowflakes on her head, and seemed to almost glide as she walked towards us.

"Who is that?" Said Anna, out loud. "I mean, who are you? I mean, hi."

It takes a lot of trust from me to really accept someone in. And with all that I heard, this warning from my birds, the last words of the Duke, and what Gerda and Agdar were after, it all didn't spell something good with this woman. I only stood by while Anna and Elsa approached her.

"She's…our aunt." Said Elsa.

"Our what?" said Anna

"Your aunt." Said the woman. "My name is Ingrid. Your mother and I were sisters."

Ingrid was of no blood of mine. Some of us have that relative that we wished never existed, and for so long of my life, I cursed Ingrid's name. She was of no relation to me, just as Gerda was no longer my mother in my eyes at the time.

"You look exactly like her." Said Ingrid to Anna.

I suppose it was meant as a compliment, but that look in her eyes said so much otherwise. She almost said it like some kind of threat to her. Ingrid gave Anna such a piercing stare, I was almost tempted to pull out my flintlock and get her to back off.

"But I don't think I know you." She looked at me.

"This is Asgeir." Said Elsa, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I didn't smile to her. "I'm their half-brother." I said. "Gerda was my mother."

"Well, now. Isn't this just a delight?" She said to me glancing at the lowered hood over my shoulders. "I'd recognize the hood of the Assassins anywhere."

Elsa looked a little surprised. "You know of the Assassins?"

"Arendelle was a kingdom meant for Assassins a long time ago. How long have you been one, Asgeir?"

"My life." I replied, still not smiling. Though Elsa didn't seem to notice my cold shoulder to our aunt. "Daniel Swortssen was my father."

"Daniel." Repeated Ingrid. "Of course." She knew my father. Why didn't that surprise me?

"Pardon me for saying so, Ingrid, but Mother doesn't have a sister." I said. "At least not one that I knew of."

"I'm sure it was too painful for her to talk about." She replied. "You see, many years ago I was trapped in a magical urn by…people who didn't exactly understand me."

Anna didn't see the picture forming in front of her eyes. "Didn't understand you?"

Ingrid replied by opening her palm, another snowflake appearing in it. While she formed it, I focused my Sight. Whatever white reflecting off her figure was gone now, replaced by the deepest shade of blood red.


	8. Chapter 8: Past-Rogue Part 2

**A/N: Time to answer questions. A few comments suggested that because I've mentioned Shay a few times, I should have him join forces with Ingrid in Storybrooke. This doesn't work for two reasons. For one thing, Ingrid wanted to kill innocents, something that Shay hated (For those who didn't play Rogue, it was the deaths of innocents that made Shay leave the Assassins behind.) Shay would never intentionally kill innocent people because he wasn't like that. And also, no one in their right mind would team up with someone as off their rocker as Ingrid.**

**The other reason is that Shay has been dead for a very long time before the start of Faith; He lived during the Seven Years War. However, he will appear later in a few flashbacks. Keep an eye out for those.**

**The other question was asking if Ingrid was a Templar because of her controlling behaviour towards Emma and Elsa. She never has been a Templar, but she and her sisters had a history with both sides of the Assassin-Templar war that will be addressed later. I hope that you enjoy this update, and I trust I'll have the next chapter up within the week. There are spoilers for the ending to Rogue, but if you played Unity, that spoiler is really obvious.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Past-Rogue Part 2

We never forget the tenets of the Creed. Every day we make it a part of who we are as well as make an effort to truly understand what it means. The tenets have a certain way of being upfront, and yet have their own deeper meaning, like an allegory

To stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent doesn't always mean kill only those who have wronged society. To me, it also means that leaving an innocent to fend for themselves, or to forget about them is no different than cutting their throat open. Hans never had Anna at the end of a sword, but he still tried to kill her all the same by leaving her to freeze to death.

To hide in plain sight. This was the one I never could follow easily. We hide in plain sight to avoid compromising the Order, which was the third tenet. The two seemed to go hand in hand. But when Elsa accepted me as her brother, and her Spymaster, that tenet seemed to become less important. We hid in plain sight all the same as Assassins in Arendelle, but some of us were known by the citizens as others. Matthew became known as an elite in the kingdom's military, and many other Assassins received jobs as scouts or others.

Never compromise the Brotherhood. I find it follows a similar rule that the Templars follow: Never share their secrets nor divulge the true nature of their work. Each of us must always stay on guard, and ensure that those who know what it is that we do are those that we can trust. Despite her obliviousness to the some of the true nature of our war with the Templars, I trusted Anna with what it was that we faced. She would never betray my confidence, knowingly or unknowingly.

Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted. If one didn't understand this, then they weren't ready to be an Assassin. Ezio had his way of saying it, but I had mine, too. To say that Nothing is True is to mean that many others will tell you what to think, and that you must look to yourself to find the true path. No one else should have control over what you do. And to say that Everything is Permitted is to say that whatever you do, it will have consequences. Wether you choose to accept those consequences or not will show what fate has in store for you. I often compare what Goldman said in The Land Without Magic to the Creed. Nothing is True reflects on one of Goldman's philosophies on anarchism: it stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals. As I said to Elsa, anarchism can mean working together, so long as everyone accepts that whatever higher power claims is the truth is a lie. Everyone can work together and find their common ground as long as they accept every truth. And to accept every truth is to accept none. Nothing is True.

Shay never understood the Creed. His brothers tried so hard to teach him what the Creed meant, but he didn't listen, and nearly wiped us all out in the colonies. My father pushed Shay's journals on me, and I read them in every waking free moment I had. He told me that it was important that I read his journals, so that I could see one thing: you were either in, or you were out. There was no middle ground on our war. If one were to enter our war on the middle ground, they would only turn to the Templars.

The easiest way to understand the difference of our war between us and the Templars is to change the words of the Creed. If it said "Everything is True, Nothing is Permitted", it simply meant shut up and do what we tell you to. That is what the Templars sought, and it's what we had to stop.

Ever since Shay, we went to extreme lengths to ensure that no one else would turn on us like he did. If you didn't understand the Creed, just as he did, you wouldn't be ready to join us.

* * *

It's strange, the irony of my own actions. I never could truly understand "hide in plain sight", and yet I was doing it every day I spent in Arendelle. Every day I walked the halls of the castle with no hood, replaced by a borrowed coat that Anna had found for me. Until the time was right, I couldn't just reveal to the castle's people that I was an Assassin. I needed to get help from Matthew to reestablish our position here, and restore our former glory. And that meant dealing with Elsa.

She was thankful for saving Anna's life once again, but she was unsure that meeting with more Assassins was the best course of action.

"You need to understand the seriousness of this, Asgeir." She said. "You point blank killed one of the princes of the Southern Isles. Things haven't been the best with them since my coronation, and I can't say that this helped."

"All the more reason to talk to my Mentor. I've trusted Matthew with my life many times before, and he always pulls through. He would ensure that Arendelle is protected free of charge for decades to come. Would you rather have a force of about fifty guarding the palace itself, or that plus another hundred and twenty protecting the entire kingdom?"

"Yes, and I'm sure that my people would clearly see the goodness in dealing with sellswords." Elsa said, without a single hint of sarcasm.

I threw my hands up. "I told you already that we're not sellswords. We fight for those whose causes are noble, not the one who pays us the most." I turned, and stormed out.

Anna and I had been working excessively for the last days. She seemed to be picking up the talent of swordplay naturally, and it seemed to me that it was my "in" to getting Elsa to warm up to me. All I was wishing is that she open up to me better than this. She thanked me for what I had done in the last few weeks, but she only accepted me as her brother in name only.

Anna was waiting outside. "I heard the whole thing. She's not budging?"

I nodded at her. "Arendelle's not a place for sellswords. It's where my people belong, Anna. Our own grandfather King Harald supported the Assassins in every waking moment in his life until he died. Then the Templars pulled Sonja at gunpoint and forced her to marry off our mother to Agdar."

"So my father forced the Assassins out of Arendelle?"

I nodded. "He took my father's life as a way of warning us never to return. I hoped that after Elsa saw that I want to protect this kingdom as much as she does, that she would consider negotiating with my Mentor."

"Well, what about me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Beg pardon?"

"Why don't I negotiate with your Mentor? I'm the Princess of Arendelle, so naturally I can do it."

The way how Anna said it sounded almost like how a noble person claimed that they can do as they liked.

"That could work." I said. "But wouldn't that be going over Elsa's head?"

"She's not seeing what I'm seeing, Asgeir. If the Assassins were to return to Arendelle, it would show the Templars that wish me and Elsa harm that you have our backs. Write to Matthew, and see that he comes here. He has my permission to begin negotiations with me."

So that day, after practice with Anna, (she was proving to get much better at using that sword. She was a fighter at heart.) I sat down in my room and wrote to Matthew. Our current hideout was a few days away from Arendelle, but no doubt Matthew would be there soon enough.

* * *

The daily routine became something of a structured system. I would get up, have breakfast, practice with Anna for an hour or two, wander Arendelle's fine town for most of the day, and then return at dusk to practice with Anna again for another hour. Everything else from then on didn't really have a structure.

A few days after I sent the raven for Matthew, the courtyard was filled with the familiar clacking sounds as Anna and I went away at each other. Elsa was down to her last hour of court for her citizens. She always tried to spend some time to listen to any concerns of the citizens like any good queen should. I could think of a few kings and queens that could learn a thing or two from her.

Anna swiped hard across, and landed a good hit on me. I grinned as the sharp pain hit me. I was just about to return the hit to Anna, when I heard whispering. I raised my blade against Anna, and the knife came out from above.

Anna yelped and I turned around, looking up for the attacker.

"Always start your attacks with a throwing knife, eh?" I knew exactly who it was. "Knowing you I'd assume you'd follow that with a-"

I turned around as he jumped down. The other man in the white hood laughed and lowered his hood after sheathing his hatchet.

"Admit it! I nearly had you!" He cried.

I grinned as I grabbed Ryan's hand in a shake. "Nowhere close, brother. Maybe you got Anna, though."

Anna nodded, her breath caught in her throat.

"Princess Anna!" Ryan smirked. "I am Veteran Assassin Ryan."

Anna tried hard to speak as she curtseyed while Ryan bowed.

"What are you doing so far from Corona, Ryan?" I asked. "Something happen with Felix? Or are you here for negotiations?"

"Yes. Matthew sent me to deal with the negotiations. He knows just how well I can handle them."

I nodded. "Anna can discuss negotiations with you."

Ryan held up a hand. "That's great and all, but Matthew said it was a priority that I spoke to Queen Elsa first, and see how things turn out. Worst case scenario, we can discuss things with Her Highness." He gestured to Anna.

Ryan was always the demanding sort, but I never thought that Matthew would insist that Elsa would have to be negotiated with. I told him that she was being very difficult to talk to. But maybe that was why he sent Ryan over. He had a way with words that even I could not match.

I nodded, and beckoned Ryan. "Anna, we can continue this later. I'll be back by your leave."

Anna smiled. "Sure thing." She said. "I can just spar with the dummies. Nice to meet you, Ryan"

Ryan and I walked back into the castle as she started. Going up the long spiral staircase, I asked Ryan about his journey.

"It's been long. I received the letter a week ago and took the fastest ship here. Too long we've been exiled from Arendelle. Now it's time we take our home back from the Templars."

Ryan was always an Assassin that went to disorganized extremes, abandoning one plan just as soon as he thought of it. He liked to improvise as well, too much for my comfort. I did my share of thinking on the spot, but at least I could look ahead much further than he seemed to be able. His favored weapon was his hatchet, although it was much unlike the treasured tomahawk that Connor wielded. That one lay inside our Vault that only the inner circle of Assassins knew the location of.

Ryan's hatchet resembled the Assassin logo with no center carved out, and a polished mahogany handle. It didn't have the similar native designs on it like Connor's did.

As well as his hatchet, Ryan prided himself with firearms. He had five flintlocks on his person alone, as well as a specially made rifle that he claimed he could "shoot a Templar's ears off at five miles away" with.

We found Elsa in her study, working. She knew exactly what Ryan was doing here as she saw him.

"No." She said.

"Elsa, please-"

"Asgeir, no. Listen to me now. I am thankful for what you did for Anna, but that does not mean for you to barge in and demand that I reward you by reinstalling the Assassins here. It doesn't work like that. Now I would be grateful if you could please just show your friend the door."

Elsa glanced at Ryan, who was in a position I was confused by. He was down on one knee, his hatchet in his hand with the head on the ground. "Your Majesty. I am Veteran Assassin Ryan of Corona. It's been a long journey for me, and I am glad to say that I am not disappointed. The rumors are very much true of the beauty of you and your kingdom. I apologize if I have offended you in any way and hope that you can understand."

Elsa was a bit surprised, but gently gestured with her hand for Ryan to stand. I was stunned. No Assassin would voluntarily kneel before any monarch to show allegiance. My allegiance to my half-sisters came through blood just as much as loyalty.

"Like I said Elsa, I trust Ryan. He's one of the best that I know in the Order, and I can promise you that there will be no regrets coming out of this."

Elsa wasn't so easily swayed by courtesies, unlike Anna a few months ago with Hans. But she was encouraged a bit by hearing that I trusted the Assassin who bent the knee to her. We all make sacrifices for the Brotherhood.

Elsa turned to Ryan. "You said you came from Corona?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." He replied. "It's truly much colder here than home. We made a similar pact to Rapunzel and her husband a year ago, and we are now seeing the kingdom prosper under our hidden protection. As Assassins, there is no charge. Only a simple talk of negotiations before both sides win."

Elsa pointed to the seat across from her. "I'll listen so long as Asgeir trusts you. I'll listen, but I can't promise I'll agree to your terms." She glanced at me. "Can you excuse us?"

I nodded, and closed the door as I walked out.

* * *

Anna and I were back at it later. When we took a break, Anna asked about Ryan.

"So what is it about him that makes him suited for negotiating?" She asked.

"He has a real way with words." I explained. "He's rumored to have once tricked several Templars into giving themselves up for us. He's also never missed a shot before when it came to shooting."

"Yikes."

I laughed. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"He called himself a Veteran Assassin. How's that different from a Master?"

"I've been an Assassin for most of my life, training since I was 9. Ryan started when he was 15."

"So did Elsa finally look past the whole 'sell sword' charade?" Asked Anna.

I smirked. "Truth be told we are sell swords, Anna. But our loyalty isn't bought with gold. It's bought with honor."

"Princess Anna!"

We both looked up as Kai walked into the training ring.

"Yes, Kai?" Anna called over.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I want you to know that there was a mix up in the kitchens earlier. Supper will be a bit late tonight."

Anna shook her head. "Not a problem, Kai. I'll let Elsa know."

"Of course, Your Highness."

Just as he turned, I heard a voice. "Hey, Kai?"

Anna glanced at me, and I winced. I had said it.

Kai came over, puzzled. "Yes, Master Connor?"

I glanced at Anna, and she nodded to me.

I gestured to the seat between me and Anna, and Kai sat down.

If the Templars ever came back, none of the household would be safe without the truth. Some people hide the truth to protect others, like Elsa did to Anna, but I believe that the hidden truth is what destroys us. It's one of the Assassins' firm beliefs.

"How can I be of service?" Kai looked at Anna, confused. "Is there anything wrong, Your Highness?"

"No, Kai. Nothing is wrong. But there is something we need to tell you. Me and Connor."

Kai nodded. "Alright."

I breathed out slowly. "My name isn't Connor, Kai. It's-"

"Asgeir..." He whispered.

I stared in bewilderment. "You knew?!"

Kai smiled. "You brought King Agdar a lot of pain. As hard as it is for me to admit, he wished you dead when you were born. Many parents feel a connection with their children when they are born, but you were not his son."

I nodded, while silently damning myself. It was one of those moments when I hated my heritage as a bastard.

"But I held you, Asgeir." Said Kai. "King Agdar said 'he's a monster. He will grow up to be feared by many.' I just stared at you in my arms and said 'that's not a monster. He's just a newborn.' I knew ever since I saw you that you were the child Agdar took from my arms. Your real father was said to have survived forty-five near death experiences as far as the legends go, so I doubted that you would die. The Assassins found you, didn't they?"

I nodded. "I have found the Order the most noble of causes, no matter what we do."

Kai nodded, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And I applaud you for that. So do I refer to you as Your Highness, or are you not here as their brother?"

I shook my head. "I prefer 'master' if any titles are on me."

Kai smiled. "Of course, Master Asgeir."

Snow started to fall. I smiled as I watch the white slivers come down from above.

"Aha!" Said Kai. "We were expecting the first snow to come any day now. Nice to see that we still pride ourselves for early autumn snows."

"It is nice."

Anna nearly jumped out of her skin again along with Kai at that other voice. But I was also surprised to see Matthew sitting right beside me. Matthew grinned as he bowed to Anna.

"At long last I meet the famous Princess Anna. It is an honor."

Anna grinned, realizing that this was my Mentor. Matthew wore a hood that was a little more tricked out and armoured than my own. "You must be Matthew." She said. "The honor is mine to share."

I laughed as Matthew grabbed my hand to shake. "Matthew, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? You sent for me!" Matthew chuckled a little, thinking I was yanking his chain.

My smile started to melt away. "But I thought you sent Ryan. He said you thought he was the best qualified for negotiations."

"Ryan? What's he doing here so far from Corona?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "I might ask you the same thing. He was just here. He's talking to my sister right now."

"Yes." Said Kai. "I last saw Queen Elsa talking with another Assassin."

"Asgeir, why would I send Ryan, who's not even one of the Assassins from our branch? I sent a raven letting you know that I would be here on my own."

I saw Kristoff suddenly run in. "Anna, where's Elsa?"

"She's not in her study?" I asked, my worry starting to skyrocket. I could feel my heart beat quicker with every passing second jump by.

"No. I went to her study to discuss the ice shipments for the other kingdoms and I couldn't find her there. The window was open, though."

And then it hit me. I glanced up at the falling snow, then looked out at the bay. The entire fjord was freezing over once more. I glanced at Matthew.

"Rogue." We both whispered.

* * *

Anna and Kristoff were soon rushing through the woods on his sled as Matthew and I jumped through the trees. Everything was coming to a head. Ryan had come to Corona on his own accord, hijacking the letter Matthew sent and covering up his true intentions of why he was here just so he could go here. And the reason was so simple: he was afraid of her. My own sister, who would never hurt a fly on purpose, had made one of Corona's best shots so afraid that he would go out of his way to kill her. An innocent person.

I kept feeling the snowflakes hit my face as I slid under a fallen tree. They were the sign that Elsa was still alive. It would stop snowing the second that Ryan found her. That I was certain.

He said something to her. He had such a way with words, and he used a certain few to make her back down and run away like she did before. She ran, and he followed, though not fast enough.

Just as Anna and Kristoff rounded the bend, Matthew and I dropped down from above and landed in front. Sven grunted in surprise.

"Have you found her yet?" Asked Anna.

"Not even close, Your Highness." Said Matthew. "Ryan's good. Very good. What he said to Queen Elsa must have been serious if she ran off. Can you think of anything that would set her off?"

Anna nodded. "She's always blamed herself for what happened, even though she promised she'd let it go. It's hard to forget our demons."

I kicked a nearby snowbank in frustration. "The arsehole tricked me!" I snapped.

"He'll get his, Asgeir." Promised Matthew.

"He's just another Shay!" I said. "He's trying to break the Creed: Stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent!"

"And standing here, bitching about it won't get us anywhere. Focus, son. Find where he went."

I kept angrily breathing fast until Anna got out of the sled and put her hand on my shoulder. "Calm down."

I started breathing slower, and then felt my Sight click on. The whispers were speaking gibberish right now, so that was useless.

"Where is that mother-"

"The ice castle!" Said Anna. "Of course!"

* * *

Anna had said it took almost two days for her to track down Elsa after she ran away, but since she knew where the castle was now, it took a few hours. Anna and I jumped out into the snow along with Matthew who was in the back of the sled. We were very close to the peak where the ice castle was.

"Hang back, Kristoff." She said.

Kristoff was aghast. "No! I want to help."

"Help us by staying back, iceman." I said. "Ryan will shoot anyone who doesn't wear a white hood on sight. But we're going to need Anna to reach out to Elsa."

Kristoff didn't like it, but he nodded. "Just get her back."

Matthew and I quickly trudged through the snow. I then glanced at Anna.

"Hold back until we tell you." I said. "Ryan might not shoot us."

"Might?!"

Matthew nodded. "Just trust us, Your Highness."

We rounded the corner to the true sight of the mountain.

I had never seen the ice castle before, but looking at it proved just how powerful Elsa was. I resented most magic, but I knew right then I could learn to love Elsa just the same. Ryan stood about twenty feet away from the staircase across the canyon to the castle.

"Ryan!"

He held up a hand. "I got this!" He called out, still thinking we were on his side. He pulled out his rifle and aimed at a massive snow drift beside the stairs. I heard the whispers. A deeper voice shouting "Go away".

Just before he pulled the trigger, a giant hand extended from the snow drift, and punched him. He flew backwards and landed in the snow in front of us. The snow bank literally stood up and looked down at us.

"Help me with this giant snow prick!" He shouted as he lay in front of us in the snow.

Instead, Matthew kneeled down, and stabbed him in the foot. Ryan shrieked as his blood gushed out and soaked the snow below him.

"Rogue!" Matthew growled. "You're a Rogue, you arse. Nothing but another Shay!"

"What?! No!" Screamed Ryan. "I'm nothing like Shay! He betrayed us! I'm trying to save us!"

I whistled, and Anna came around the corner, cautiously stepping around Ryan. Matthew held him down as he used a Rope Dart to tie him down.

"I got this, Asgeir. Go check on her!" He nodded to the castle.

Anna held up her hands as she approached the giant snow monster. "It's okay, Marshmallow!" She cried. "Just let us in!"

"Marshmallow" growled at me, but he took a few booming steps back and let us pass through.

Anna and I carefully walked up the steps.

"Marshmallow?" I asked.

"Olaf's name for him. He's guarded the castle every waking hour as far as I know."

"When was the last time Elsa was here?" I asked.

"When she built this place."

She pushed open the heavy door, and we walked in.

The entire room around us glowed a dark blue. Elsa sat on the ground in front of us, her knees up to her chest. Her train was spread out around the floor so evenly, it almost made it look like a big snowflake in the ice. She looked up at us as we walked in.

"Anna..." She said.

"What did Ryan say, Elsa?" I asked.

Elsa's cheeks were streaked with frost from her tears. I knelt down to the floor along with Anna. Anna hugged her sister, and I asked again.

"What did the traitor say?"

Elsa shook her head. "You were right to say he has a way with words. All he said reminded me that I'm a monster. He's right."

I placed my hand on her cheek. "Where does it say that? Who believes that now? I don't. Anna doesn't-"

*BANG* "I do!"

I stood up, pulling my flintlock. Ryan also had one of his flintlocks out. He stood in the doorway, fresh powdered snow covering him. He limped slowly forward.

"How the hell did you-?" I was wondering how he got past Marshmallow, but I may never know.

"You know, I gotta say that I am amazed, Asgeir. You called me the traitor, but you're siding with the wrong people! Isn't that saying 'blood is thicker than water'?! These two bitches aren't your family! We are!"

I drew one of my swords with the other hand, and started circling towards Ryan. "If you ever call either of them that word again-"

"And what? You'll kill me? I'm your brother, Asgeir! We're bound by a Creed! I'm here to purge the evil from this world just as the Assassins before us did!"

I was alarmed. "Are you even listening to yourself, Ryan?! They aren't even Templars! They're innocents that share my blood! We are bound by a Creed! Hide in plain sight! Never compromise the Brotherhood! And the most important: Stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent!"

"Yes!" Said Ryan, scowling. "I know the Creed. And I am following it." He pointed his gun to Elsa. "I did stay my _blade_ from the flesh of an innocent."

Elsa sharply gasped as I muttered. "You son of a-"

*BANG!*

* * *

Ryan fell to the ground, clutching his neck in agony, crimson life streaming down through his fingers. He took the Creed a literal way to make an excuse to kill Elsa, the scumbag.

"Why, Asgeir?! I followed the Creed!"

"The Creed is not for us to toy with and twist for our own gain. Elsa would never hurt us, not support the Templars, but you let your fears get the better of you and you tried to hurt my family."

"She's dangerous, Asgeir! And I was the only Assassin to see it!"

"What irony." I replied. "You claim to have seen the truth, but you're blinder than ever before. You're more a Rogue than anyone for the past few years."

"If this is the path that Shay followed, then I'm glad I found it, as well! I'm not the first to defy her out of fear, and I won't be the last!" Ryan rolled over onto his back, looking up at me. He smirked. "I only wish that I would have died making that last shot, brother! I missed!"

"You are no blood of mine, Shay." I spat on Ryan's face. "May the Father of Understanding make you bleed."

* * *

Matthew walked up the stairs and opened the door. When he saw Ryan's bloody cadaver, he only bowed his head solemnly. "Hvil I Fred."

I scowled. "He was a traitor, and still you wish him peace?"

"He was one of us, Asgeir. Although not one in death, he still lived as a brother."

Matthew slowly approached Elsa and Anna. Elsa still sat on the floor with her knees towards her chest. Matthew lowered his hood.

"Your Majesty, I hoped that our circumstances for introductions were better, but sadly, that could not happen. I am Matthew, Mentor of the Arendelle Assassin Order."

Elsa glared up at Matthew as he continued.

"Ryan was not here on our orders. I will speak to his brothers in Corona, but no doubt he was one of those individuals who failed to understand who it really was that reigned here. I'm hoping that we could speak in private soon?"

Elsa slowly stood up. "What do you want? Gold? Forgiveness?"

"Not precisely. I am hoping that you can look past all this and realize that not every Assassin is like that."

Elsa didn't reply. She turned to me, and slowly went towards me.

"You came to us three weeks ago, claiming that you were our half-brother and that all you wanted was to be a part of the family and show your loyalty."

Elsa jumped and embraced me. "I'm sorry..." She sobbed. "You saved my life. Both of our lives."

I returned the hug as Anna joined in, making it a group hug. "All I wanted was redemption past my heritage as a bastard." I said. "What I got were two loving sisters."

Elsa pulled away. "I'm not entirely in on this war. Assassins and Templars alike. But you are right, Asgeir. If there are more Assassins like you than Ryan, then I agree that negotiations will begin soon. Arendelle cannot fall while I still live."

I glanced at Ryan. "I trusted him to talk to you, and he nearly put a bullet through my own kin."

"I know. Most would damn the Assassins for that, and banish them from their kingdom forever." Said Elsa. "But I now see what Anna sees. People who used to be part of this kingdom only wishing to return to the home that mine and Anna's father took away from them."

As we started for the door, I looked over, then picked up Ryan's body, and slung him over my shoulder. We had a special place where traitors would go.

* * *

The months passed. Elsa and Matthew reached perfectly agreeable terms to negotiations, and before long, our status as Assassins of Arendelle returned.

I was condemned by Corona's Assassins. I wished that there was another way, but I had no choice when Ryan threatened Elsa. It was him or her, and I swore to follow the Creed. Corona's Assassins took Ryan's body off our hands. We never had quarrels between two branches of the Order, but there was a first for everything. It would be high noon of my life before we finally saw a return to peace between Corona and Arendelle's Assassin Orders.

Arendelle returned to prospering just like it did under King Harald's rule. Assassins hiding in plain sight throughout the kingdom, doing what most soldiers could not: protecting the innocent from the Templars that sought to control them.

* * *

Anna closed the book before her. The black leather cover held the Assassin insignia with a unique design: cracked, much like Shay's faith in us.

"Wow..." She said to me.

I nodded. She wanted to know who Shay was, so I showed her. "Now you understand what Shay was. He could not see that what we did was seeking a better world, and killed so many of us. We almost would have never climbed out of that hole if not for Connor."

"So what happened to him afterwards? All it says at the end was he killed an Assassin named Dorian."

I nodded. "I studied every book on Shay that we have, and every one has the same fate: the last pages were torn out. My father said it was the work of the Templars, and that the pages are still out there. One day I'll find those last pages and finally see the truth laid bare on Shay's final years and his richly deserved death."

Anna nodded. "Come on. Enough reading about old enemies. We need to talk to Kristoff about current problem, this Ingrid person."

I stood up from the table, shelving the book. Shay Patrick Cormac. The one who singlehandedly purged the Colonial rite of the Assassins with no mercy or regret. I would find his truth and know that we got justice for all those Assassins he slaughtered.


	9. Chapter 9: Family Business

**A/N: Ingrid is not happy with the Duke's death for one reason: how would Connor feel if he found out someone else had killed Charles Lee? Food for thought.**

Chapter 9: Family Business

"I'm telling you, that woman is up to something."

"What do you mean, your aunt? What makes you say that?"

It was a couple hours later. After settling in and recuperating from all the traveling, Anna and I came back to the stables. I had just finished showing her the book on Shay. While Kristoff was feeding Sven, I sat on the edge of his pen, my back propped up against one of the posts, sharpening my Rope Blade.

"Because it's weird, and strange her being here!" Said Anna. "And because I'm a good judge of character."

I snorted. "Who was it that agreed to marry Hans ten minutes after she started talking to him? Wasn't that you, dear sister?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "I was young and naive." She said.

"You met me the next day." Replied Kristoff.

"_Younger_!"

I laughed. "Although you gotta admit, Kristoff. She can see things better now. She predicted an ambush right on the ship taking us to the Enchanted Forest on her own. She's gotten to be a much better judge ever since."

"Thank you, Asgeir."

I nodded, and went back to sharpening my blade.

"Anyway, I just want to make sure we're asking all the right questions." She said.

"Like what?"

"Like is she really even our aunt? Or is she just some imposter trying to worm her way into our family?"

"Anna, look at her! You can't see the resemblance?" Said Kristoff, not buying it. "Oh yes! The ice power thing! There's that!" He grabbed the bucket of carrots from the pen and carried it away.

"Maybe!" Said Anna. "But if she's really our aunt, why isn't she in the family portraits? The royal records! There's no trace of her! It's like-"

"She never even existed." I finished for her. "It's the same case for me. I don't show up on anything in our family tree."

Anna's eyes lit up. "And why is that?"

"Agdar was trying to hide me from the public eye. It might be the same case for Ingrid. Mother may have tried to hide the truth from the kingdom."

Anna beamed, glad to have me on her side. "See? Asgeir gets it."

Kristoff glanced at me. "Isn't it his job to not trust people?"

"Sure." I replied. "If they show up red on my Sight. I focused on Ingrid when I first saw her, and she glowed crimson. She wants me dead, therefore."

Anna looked a little afraid by that statement, but she held her ground. "So she has ulterior motives."

"At least towards me, yes. I can't say for sure what they are, though. I don't trust her. That is certain."

"So how are you two going to find these answers?" Said Kristoff.

Anna shifted uncomfortably. "Your family." She said.

Kristoff raised an eyebrow, pouring some hot cocoa into a mug from a thermos. "Careful." He said. "Grand Pabbie's still a little miffed that you postponed the wedding."

"What gives him the right? It's not him getting married." I said.

Anna smiled, taking the cocoa. "I can handle Grand Pabbie. Will you go back to the castle and cover for me? Watch Elsa, while I'm gone?"

Kristoff put his hands on his fiancé's shoulders. "If it'll put your mind at ease, of course."

"Oh, but Kristoff, you have to be careful of what around her." She said, uneasily. "We might not exactly have told her what we discovered in the Enchanted Forest."

Kristoff was dismayed. "You lied to her?"

"Of course we did, brother." I said. "What else were we going to say? Templars, no matter who they are, can't help but cause misery where they go."

Anna agreed, despite that I was calling out both her parents, not just her father. "Telling her our parents wanted to take away her magic? I just have to find the right moment. And Asgeir needs to find a place to hide the hat."

"That could take a while." I said. "I may have to take it to another realm for all I care. Rumplestiltskin may not be the only one after it."

"So what's your plan, Asgeir?" Asked Anna.

I gave my blade a few licks of my whetstone. Another gift from the sisters, for my birthday. Magically enchanted to sharpen any blade to a condition as if it just was smithed. "Matthew may have some of the answers we're seeking. I'll talk to him."

"Great." Said Anna. "We have our plan. Kristoff?"

"Right, right." He said. "Of course. You know I'll support you, no matter what. Unless I think it's really dumb. Then I'll tell you."

Anna grinned. "Thank goodness I haven't hit really dumb yet."

"Can I get you supplies for your journey?" He offered as Anna embraced him.

"You're sweet, but no." She said. "I'll stop by Oaken's on the way. You'll see me as soon as I return."

She kissed him. I glanced up from my blade, then back down and awkwardly gave another few licks to my blade, despite it being sharp enough to slice a diamond in half.

"Speaking of, Anna. I need to pick up the new shipment of crossbows from Oaken for the new novices. Can I at least go that far with you?"

Anna nodded. "Just that far. I don't want to think my brother's turning into my babysitter."

I nodded, jumping off the pen's edge. Anna walked out of the stables, along with Kristoff, who went to get more feed for Sven.

I glanced at the reindeer. He grunted at me.

"Yeah, I guess it has been a while since we talked, buddy." I said.

"Snort, snort, grunt."

"Just you and me for now. And our eavesdropper."

I turned around, seeing Ingrid step out from behind the pillar. She had heard the whole thing. I had been hearing the whispers for most of our conversation, but kept quiet.

Ingrid and I looked at each other. She had eyes like Elsa's, ice blue. But they weren't friendly or even happy like my sister's. They were cold, emotionless, and above all, broken. It was almost like I could see the insanity in her own eyes. People these days refer to this as the "crazy eyes", which is self explanatory.

I looked her dead on, straight in the eyes. I didn't say anything, nor she to me. But she knew that everything bad I had said about her less than five minutes ago I had intentionally said so that she would hear.

* * *

Anna and I hiked up the steep mountain trail. Oaken's was quite the distance from the town, but we both agreed it would raise Elsa's suspicions if we took one of the horses from the stables.

Ingrid was one of the many things on Anna's mind at the moment, but she asked me something that made me realize there was more to it than that.

"When did you kill your first man, Asgeir?"

I glanced behind at her. The path we were on put me on higher ground than her, so I was even taller than her. Elsa and I were around the same height.

"I was nine. It's considered an initiation to some Assassins what I went through. The man was attempting to sell our secrets for protection from Queen Regina in Misthaven. They took him into a room, tied him to the chair, gave me my tools, and told me to kill him."

"Gosh."

"I wanted to make it quick and get it over with, but Matthew told me that it wasn't what the masters wanted. They wanted to truly punish him for what he did to us. Until he was crying and begging me to put him out of his misery, I would keep hurting him."

We continued walking before I saw a log off the path. I sat down, and Anna did the same.

"What we seek is a better world, Anna. How we do it is the exact opposite than better. The guy lost four fingers, three teeth, and his dignity before he begged me to stop. I made it quick as I could after that.

"The point of it all was the Assassins wanted to see what would happen to me after that. Most people would break down in grief for having to do that. Other psychos would find some kind of thrill out of that. But they got what they needed out of me: the middle ground on that emotional stage. To take lives not for fun, or not because it must be done, but because it's a form of accepting who one is as an Assassin. It's that middle ground that makes an Assassin the best at what he does. Now I want to know: why did you ask?."

"I keep thinking back to the barn. When we were with David. How I cut that guard's throat when they tried to ambush us. He was innocent, Asgeir. And I took his life.

I turned right around, and put my hands on her shoulders. "Hey. He was not innocent. He blindly followed Peep's orders because he was paid by her. And if your positions were switched, with him behind you about to grab you, he would kill you and not even twitch. Anna, there is only one acceptable reason for someone outside the Order to take a life: Did you have any other option?"

"W-well, I-"

"Anna." I said, slowly. "Did. You. Have a choice? I didn't see you fight that guard, only take his life. So I ask you that in those few seconds I took my eyes off you, did he come close enough to taking your life?"

Anna looked down for a few seconds in thought, and then nodded. "He almost grabbed me."

"Then there should be no guilt to doing that, Anna. It was you or him. But I know you. Don't ever consider taking a life again like that. This life as an Assassin is not the one for you, and I can't see you taking the hood. It's not who you are."

Anna hugged me. "I know, Asgeir. I just needed to make sure I did the right thing with that guard."

Climbing up the steep path, we soon were at the top, at the edge of a clearing. The large cabin sat in the middle. As we walked towards it, I noticed a small creek cutting through the field. Anna seemed to be super cautious with it, because she went so much as to jump over it. I just casually stepped over it as we headed across the field and inside the cabin.

"Yoo hoo!"

The air was thick from the heat coming from the sauna. Oaken sat at his desk talking to a younger woman with auburn hair as Anna and I stepped in. Anna waved and I have a quick nod.

"Right..." I muttered, leaning against the shelf beside me while Anna approached the girl from behind.

"But you just said they were nice." She said to Oaken, clearly in the middle of a conversation with him.

"I've heard." He replied in his thick accent.

The girl sighed, clearly hoping that Oaken could have led her to whatever she was looking for. "Please help me. I just lost my mother and-"

Oaken's face fell. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Uh, trolls can't bring life, but I can help soothe you." He offered. "Have you tried the sauna?"

When I first came here for ammunition, Oaken offered the sauna to me seven times. It clearly was his pride.

"Uh, no. Thank you." Said the girl. She rolled up the map, and started for the door.

Anna approached her. "Need some help?" She asked.

"Uh," said the girl, a little surprised. "Well, I was trying to find the rock trolls. But this map is not being too helpful."

Anna smiled. "Oaken means well..."

"_Ja_!"

"But you don't need him, or a map. I can help you." Anna's eyes lit up. "I'm on my way to see them! Come with me!"

The girl perked up. "Really? Thank you! Uh, I'm Belle."

Now, I hadn't heard of Belle yet, but that was because her movie wasn't out yet in the Land Without Magic. However, I had read the story, so I was a little familiar with her. This must have been before she met the Beast.

"I'm Anna." Said Anna, shaking her hand.

Oaken interrupted the moment by calling over. "Friend of Anna's! Half price on the sauna!"

I laughed. "You got my order, Oaken?"

"Oh, _ja_! I'll be right back with it!"

He went into the back room while Anna introduced me.

"This is Asgeir, my brother."

"Pleased to meet you, Belle." I said.

"So you're picking up an order?" She asked.

"It's for his...guild." Said Anna. "He was just seeing me up this way, then he heads back to town."

I nodded. "Yes, Anna. Plus I have to report back to them anyways. It's been a while since I've checked on them."

Oaken came back carrying a box about the size of a trunk. Of course, being the big man that he was, he was carrying it like it was nothing.

"_Ja_, Asgeir! Here it is!"

He placed it on the table. I flipped the latches open, and took one of the crossbows out. A reddish mahogany finish, and the metal mechanism on the bow's draw had the Assassin logo. I peered down the sights to test it.

"Exactly what kind of guild does your brother belong to?" asked Belle with concern as I placed the bow back.

"...hunters." Came Anna's squeaky reply.

I nodded. "I may need to borrow a horse to get this down to the village."

"Oh, _ja_. Not a problem. Anything else?"

I pulled my air rifle off my back. "Regular ammunition refill. Thanks."

With that, Anna and Belle left. Anna smiled at me with reassurance, even though I felt nervous that it was the first time in a while I had let her out of my sight for more than ten minutes. I couldn't help but feel that sense of dread that there was a chance I wouldn't see her again.

* * *

I returned to the castle an hour later. I figured it was important that I notify Elsa on the Duke's fate before heading to the hideout. This was a political move against Weasel Town as well as against the Templars. As far as I knew, the duke had a granddaughter sympathetic to our cause that would restore order in Weasel Town. But if Elsa didn't know about the rat's fate, she should.

I walked in as Ingrid was teaching Elsa. The room was covered in frost all around.

"Asgeir!" Said Elsa. "We're just in the middle of a lesson. Is there something you need?"

I glanced at Ingrid, then spoke up. "I'm speaking on behalf of the Assassins now, Elsa."

Elsa nodded. "Yes. What about?"

"Alone, Elsa." I said, gesturing to our aunt.

Ingrid blinked, but Elsa spoke for her. "Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of Aunt Ingrid. I trust her."

*_But I don't_.* I thought, scratching my stubble. "It's about the Duke." I said.

Elsa's smile dropped. "What happened?"

"He's dead. When Anna and I were in the Enchanted Forest, we met up with some of my brothers there. They were on a mission to kill a Master Templar out there, and requested my help. It was the Duke, and I was the one to bring him down."

Elsa didn't say anything for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. This was only on behalf of the Assassins, right?"

"Yes. Although I partly took him down thinking of how he tormented the three of us for so long. You, me, Anna."

"Yes." Said Ingrid. "He did such horrible things."

So she knew the Duke as well. I needed to get to Matthew soon.

"I've heard of his granddaughter." Said Elsa. "She might be open to reinstating an alliance. But I understand that the Duke couldn't stay if he was a target of the Assassins."

"By your leave." I said to Elsa. I headed off into the hallway, leaving my sister behind with the real demon of this family.

* * *

After Elsa and Matthew had reached a good point in negotiations, we were able to restore our hideout. Hidden in the catacombs underneath the castle and the surrounding town lay our underground fortress. It was where I stayed often if I was in Arendelle on Assassin business without Elsa or Anna knowing I was there. We had placed numerous entrances to the catacombs around the castle, but the one I was closest to was a true hidden door cliché.

In the library, at the fireplace lay the door. The secret lever was a candelabra twenty feet away from the fireplace. The switch was placed so far away from the fireplace, so that one trying to get in wouldn't find it. You'd expect the switch to open a door be right beside the door itself, not so far from the door. I pulled it down, and the fireplace sank down revealing the entrance to the hideout. The wall opposite of the passage inside showed the Assassin insignia, and a hatch in the floor. Opening the hatch revealed a ladder, and I climbed down.

Matthew was in the middle of a meeting with Jason when I walked in. He grinned, then gestured to Jason.

"Listen, Jason. This'll have to wait."

Jason glanced up at me, then grabbed me in an brotherly embrace.

"Nice to see you're not dead, Asgeir."

"So am I." I replied, pulling away. "Death is so boring, especially now. The crossbow shipment should be in the delivery chute.

"I'll be back to talk later, Matthew." He said. "Until then, time to teach these novices how to shoot worth a Templar's arse."

Matthew waved as Jason turned away. Jason was one of the few Assassins who preferred his ranged weapons to his blades. He still knew how to use his own twin hidden blades, but his pride was a long sighted rifle slung to his back, similar to my air rifle. He was our best shot. Even better than Ryan, thank god; he never missed a shot in his life, and was as kind as he was brave. He had met the sisters a couple times, and gladly agreed to continue as an Assassin with their support. Although what differed him from myself was I was the only Assassin who would dare use something Shay thought was good. When I saw the air rifle in the stockpile as I picked my weapons when I was a kid, Matthew told me that no one had used that rifle since it was assembled.

Matthew slid forward a flagon of ale as I sat down. "There's no doubting what you want to talk to me about, is there Asgeir?"

"I met Ingrid." I replied. "She recognized my own hood when it wasn't even raised. That makes me think that she's had a history with us, and suffice to say, with my father especially."

Matthew took a long swig of ale. "Did you know your father taught me personally? He and I shared a fraternal bond in the same way that you and I share. He was my own Mentor. It's why I took you under my wing specifically when he passed."

"Passed" meaning Agdar took his head off with the great sword of the Arendelle royal family.

"He loved everyone he fought alongside, Asgeir. And he had plans for you. Then that damn woman came and everything turned to shit. I was praying so hard she would never return from that urn."

Now this was getting interesting. "What the hell happened?"

Matthew leaned forward, hand on top of his flagon. "Let's start by saying that your resentment of magic is something you took from your when I raised you."

* * *

***Matthew POV***

When your father and I were assigned together as brothers at arms, he was 17, and I 15. I can remember back when things were simpler. Back when I could walk through Arendelle without worrying that someone would shoot me. Daniel and I knew Ingrid, just as she told you. But she may not have told you about Helga. Helga was the middle child of the sisters. Once there were three, but now there are none. None fit to be among us.

King Harald was a dear friend of ours when I was a novice. He remembered how our Mentor at the time, Maunu , saved his life on a few occasions when they were younger, and ended up providing us with more support than we could ever imagine.

Daniel and I were known as the messengers of the Order for King Harald. That evening we headed through the firelit town across the bridge to the castle.

With us in attendance at such an important occasion, we had to ditch our hoods for proper attire. We both wore what we could, but the difference between us was that I chose to go as much as I could and wear the epaulets on my shoulders, and Daniel did not.

"They're stupid, Matthew." He said to me when I asked why. "Why wear such a ridiculous article when no one at this party will even recognize us to begin with? Any Templars there haven't seen our faces. No hood and a dress coat is all I think we need to ensure no one recognizes us."

Daniel was a carefree Assassin in some respects, but he taught me everything I knew. He either had no respect for one thing, or fiercely believed in it. Almost never a grey area.

The guards at the front of the palace stopped us.

"Invitations." They said.

Daniel and I presented our invitations, both stamped with Harald's personal seal. The guards took note of this, and ushered us in.

"Enjoy your evenings, Mr. Vollan. Mr. Ness."

We both walked into the large ballroom. The ceiling reached a height that I wasn't even sure I could count, and the guests seemed to glow with royalty. It angered me how Templars lived like this and us Assassins got the short end of the stick; more than half of the guests were known Templars throughout several kingdoms and lands.

We found our host with two of his daughters towards the center of the room. Daniel stepped up and bowed, twirling his hand.

"Your Majesty." He murmured. "Your Highnesses." He said to Gerda and Helga.

I followed suit as the two princesses curtsied. King Harald was thrilled to have two of his own friends join the celebration.

"It is truly a pleasure to have you both gather for my name day, Master Edward." He said to Daniel. "What with all that has happened."

A recent assault on one of our hideouts to the far northern regions of Arendelle had nearly destroyed the homestead. But luckily, our brothers endured with our help.

"Father," Said Helga. "You must excuse me, but there is someone who you absolutely must meet."

She hurried off, but not before flashing a bright smile at me. I shifted. As hard at it may come for you to believe, Asgeir, I was once a young boy who wanted to find that which your sister Anna and Kristoff have. And despite her oncoming betrothal to many suitors, no doubt many a line of Templars, I will admit that I had some feelings for Helga.

"How have you managed, Adam?" Asked Gerda.

It was my own alias that she was saying. I nodded. "It has been tough, but our brothers are holding steady. You have been very generous, King Harald."

Harald beamed. "Of course. I am forever in your debt as a friend."

Helga walked over with a younger man on her arm. He had thick glasses and a heavily waxed mustache. I felt my eyes flash, and almost drew my hidden blade at the sight of him. The Duke was a known Templar, just like most of them here. But I felt a sort of responsibility to Helga if I could take this man's life right now. I could see it in her eyes. That familiar look in any young girl's eyes the moment that she sees the suitor that she knows she wants desperately. Daniel held up his hand with such a small gesture, then shook his head. Restraint was another thing he taught me back when I showed more recklessness than professionalism.

"Father," said Helga. "I would like for you to meet my new friend, the Duke."

The sniveling twerp gave a quick bow. "An honor, Your Majesty." He said.

Harald raised an eyebrow. "Duke? What brings you to Arendelle?"

Precursor sites, was my guess.

"I'm on a diplomatic mission." Came his reply. "Part of a semi-permanent envoy. I shall be staying for quite some time."

Semi-permanent? But that meant only one thing if the Duke was involved. Daniel knew it, and looked at me with that look that showed me he understood. The Templars were setting their sights on Arendelle, for some reason.

Helga, nor Harald knew of the Duke's involvement with the Templars, and I felt a sinking sense of dread as she smiled at the Duke.

"Welcome to my kingdom." Said Harald. "Do you find it to your liking?"

What wasn't there to like? The mountains and snowscapes were nothing like anything I could ever see, even in the Land Without Magic.

"She's beautiful." Said the Duke, looking at Helga, then stuttered. "Uh-um-uh, _it's _beautiful. Yes. I like it here. It's lovely. As is your daughter. I'm humbled she would even consider a dance with me."

I scowled. He wasn't even being subtle at this point. But with so many guards in the room, Templars alike, and Daniel watching on, mentally begging me not to slit this man's throat, I had to hold back. I took a step back, slowly.

Helga smiled teasingly at the Duke's statement, until he finished his sentence.

"I mean, would she?" He asked.

"I would consider it." She replied.

Harald sighed. "It always starts with a dance." He laughed.

As the band struck up, Daniel and I sat down with fresh mugs of ale off to the side of the dance floor. Daniel shook his head.

"We all got our weaknesses, Matthew. Don't let yours lose your hood."

I took a long swig. Killing a target prematurely without approval from a mentor was considered forbidden now by our standards. Apprentices in the Order refer to this as the "Arno Law".

"If the Duke is here on a mission, then we may be compromised." I said.

"I know. But this is something we need to bring back to the council. If we report this, we can stop the Templars from latching onto this place before they even take so much as a step through the border."

Daniel stopped, glancing around in interest. He must have sensed something. Not every Assassin is gifted with the Sight, just as there are those rare folks that hold the sight outside out Order. I wasn't lucky enough to possess the Sight, but Daniel helped me along the way.

"Edge of the ballroom, by the west entrance."

I got up, and started over. The west entrance to the ballroom was one of the smallest, making it very little in terms of traffic. Daniel didn't tell me who or what was there, nor could he, since the Sight would only tell him of a person of interest, not why.

I made my way over, instantly spotting who I was looking for in the shadows. I stood beside her, and she slowly glanced at me. It was a full minute of silence, looking on at the dancers before we spoke.

"It's not easy, is it?" I said.

"Never, Matthew." Replied Ingrid. "But I can't possibly be seen, knowing I'm a danger to everyone."

Daniel and I found out about Ingrid's powers when we were in our teens, and swore on the Brotherhood that we would keep her secret.

"So don't be a danger to innocents." I said. "You could join us and serve something bigger than yourself. Pass the throne onto Helga."

Ingrid glared at me, not amused. I had asked her many times to join the Order since she spent her days hiding away, where either myself or Daniel would run into her. She would make a good Assassin.

"I refuse to join a brotherhood that glorifies killing, regardless of their motives. I understand what you are saying, Matthew, but I can't be near anyone. Anyone at all."

She started crying, and started for the door. I could only stand and watch as the tall blonde ran off. Daniel placed a hand on my shoulder as he walked up behind me.

"Let's head back." He said. "It's for the best."

* * *

"And you said that the Duke is one of the potential suitors for Princess Helga?"

"Yes, Mentor." Said Daniel. "The Templars are clearly locking their sights on Arendelle."

Maunu, our Mentor glanced at me. "Matthew. I notice that you haven't said much since you invited yourselves into my office."

I nodded. "With respect, Mentor, I think it the best action to strike fast and quick. Get the Duke out of the picture, and soon. Send a message to the Templars that we are protecting this kingdom."

Maunu wasn't one to respect the opinions of novices. He thought it would only crack his authority if he listened to people who were much less experienced than him. "It would _not_ serve the best interests of the Brotherhood, novice. Not until we have a list of the Duke's benefactors. Who knows how many Templars are hiding in the shadows? No, I don't think it the best course of action. I want you and Master Daniel to keep watch on the princesses and give us regular reports. Dismissed."

* * *

We next saw the sisters a week later, Asgeir. They had been in Misthaven on some kind of business that they kept secret from Harald. Daniel and I scaled the walls of the castle and climbed into a window of the eastern wing. Gerda was walking through the hall when Daniel whistled.

Gerda smiled as she saw us. "Nice to see some friendly faces, boys."

Daniel pulled his hood down. "How have you been, Gerda?"

"It has been hard this last week. Although Ingrid has been going outside our room more often."

That was quite a surprise to hear. "No kidding?" I asked. "What changed her mind?"

Gerda smiled, although uncomfortably. "We visited a wizard. He gave Ingrid a solution to her...ice problem."

There were plenty of wizards in Misthaven, but few could do something at that kind of level. Daniel narrowed his eyes as he read Gerda's expression like a book.

"What did you have to give up to Rumplestilskin for that?"

Gerda was surprised, but did not show it. "I never said it was Rumplestiltskin."

"You didn't have to."

Gerda nodded, then scratched at her left wrist with her right hand. I noticed right then what they had to give up.

"The ribbons?" I asked. "That's a tall order, even for that bastard."

The sisters took three ribbons off a kite when they were children. That was the day when they discovered Ingrid's powers. They swore they would never leave each other. The ribbons served as a sort of symbol of their bond.

"Ingrid insisted. She's afraid, Matthew. She's afraid that she'll hurt someone. We had to give up the symbols of our sisterhood for protection."

Gerda's eyes lit up. "You've done a lot for my family before, boys. Can you do it again? Please talk to Ingrid. Show her that she isn't what she's made herself out to be."

Daniel waited a moment before he nodded. "We'll do what we can, Gerda. But I can't promise anything. We inspire fear for most, not take it away."

* * *

Gerda told us that we may find Ingrid in the gardens towards the edge of town. Why she'd go that far escapes me, but we indeed found her. And Helga with the little snake. Helga smiled as we approached.

"Impeccable timing, boys." She said to us.

The Duke eyed us with dread. "Assassins!" He spluttered.

"Damn straight." Replied Daniel. "Care to explain what's happened, Your Highness?" He asked Helga.

"The Duke is nothing but a liar and a scoundrel." She said, Ingrid watching on. I stood outside the steps of the gazebo with Daniel right beside Helga.

"Thank you for saving me the trouble of considering taking your _worthless _hand in marriage." She sneered.

The Duke glared at his formerly betrothed. "How dare you."

"We shall see to it that your 'diplomatic mission' here is over!"

Daniel smirked. "Run along back to Weaseltown, you little prick."

The Duke stared hard at Daniel and adjusted his glasses. "It's pronounced _Wesleton_!" He snarled. "And I am it's Duke! I do not take orders from you, Assassin! Nor this princess! Believe me, when Arendelle learns the truth about her, they shall side with me!"

To that remark, Daniel glanced at Ingrid, and gave her a short nod. One clearly out of support for her. I stepped up behind her, staring down the Duke. I too helped the innocent, and that meant siding with my brother's childhood friends.

"Ingrid is my sister." Said Helga. "And I love her for who she is." She turned on the Duke. "And so shall everyone else!"

The Duke smirked. "Oh, really? Is this why you hide her away from balls, and royal dinners? Why no one has laid eyes on this freak?!" He pointed at her with such a dishonorable way, I would have cut his hand off if I could go back and do it again.

"Watch your mouth, weasel! You're out of line, now!" Growled Daniel. He started for his blade.

"Mock me all you wish, Assassin. But the people deserve to know what their future queen is. Before I'm through, all of Arendelle will know your secret!"

Ingrid's eye started twitching. Angrily, or psychotically? I've replayed the memory so many times I forget all the details, and I especially have so much trouble what happened next. Of course, we all don't remember exactly how a friend dies when things become this hostile. Especially when you had feelings for that friend.

"When they find out how dangerous your sister really is, you won't have to hide her any longer! Because they'll lock her up and throw away the key!"

"Enough!" Commanded Helga. Clearly she had the kind of voice of authority that a queen needed when she snapped it. Even I was shook off a bit by it. The Duke however, was not.

"Because that is the only fate befitting a monster!"

* * *

I said it already. It's gone through my head so many times, I'm not even sure I remember how it happened.

When I heard that Ingrid was taken from that urn, I watched her carefully without her knowing I was there as she walked the castle corridors. I now know that she lost her sanity long ago, and I believe it was at this moment when she lost it.

How do I remember it, Asgeir? Ingrid lost her temper so hard, she struck Helga. Right in the heart. The Duke ran off, and Helga fell to the floor from her frozen heart. As Ingrid started wailing for her sister, praying that she could undo this, your father did the last thing I expected out of him. Maybe he thought that he needed to ensure that Ingrid didn't hurt anyone else, or maybe he was just doing his duty. But he did it anyways.

"Hands up!" He commanded, his flintlock dead straight on Ingrid's head. "Get on your knees and show me your hands!"

"Daniel!" She sobbed. "Please!"

Helga seemed to be choking as the ice spread throughout her body. Were we staying our blades from the innocent like we were supposed to? I didn't realize until later that your father was doing his duty. He was aiming his gun at the one who needed a bullet in her head, and quick.

"Daniel?" I asked.

"Get him, Matthew. Find the son of a bitch, and end him!"

"But-"

"That's an order, novice!" He snapped, still aiming his gun at Ingrid. "Get that Duke, now!"

I hesitated, Ingrid watching me, hoping that I would stand between her and the white hooded devil holding her passport to the afterlife. And I ran. I ran for the Duke, hoping I could catch up to him. I did, but I didn't kill him.

I tackled him as he was nearing his guards, which were at the bottom of the hill we were atop in the woods. They didn't see or hear the struggle between us.

"Hands off, Assassin!" He wrenched free of my grip.

I pulled my own flintlock, and aimed at him. "Your efforts here will throw this kingdom into chaos, weasel. One heir is dead and another is grief stricken over killing her." I said. "I could kill you right now and get this over with. Follow my orders."

I lowered my hand and dropped the gun. "But what will that give us? War. Your friends will all think that this was a move by Arendelle for political gain of some sort, and then too many more will die. I need to do something else."

I opened my Phantom Blade, and shot him in the neck. Nowhere near a fatal hit, but it would give us something else.

The Duke fell to his knees as I walked up.

"You can't die yet." I said, looking down on the pathetic twit. "It would be too risky. I just shot you with a new poison we have developed. Everything you saw back there, you'll be aimlessly rambling on about for months, maybe years to come. They'd call you crazy, and you'll be put in a ward. No one will believe you, despite your insistence, and if you're smart, you'll back off from Arendelle when they lock you up and throw away the key. Then maybe, after years of therapy, you'll think that everything you saw was just a bad dream from long ago, and move on."

The Duke fell back into the pine needles. The first effects of the poison were unconsciousness. "May the Father of Understanding guide me..." He murmured.

* * *

I walked back towards the gazebo, and as I saw what awaited me, I fell to my knees. Gerda sat on the steps in tears, a strange looking urn in her arms. Daniel sat beside her. As I approached, he looked up.

"Is he gone?" He asked about the Duke.

"No." I replied. When Daniel almost started to yell at me, I interrupted with my reasoning. "It would mean war for Arendelle if the Templars found that one of their own was killed here during his 'diplomatic mission'. The Templars would blame the King for something we did. I shot him with the new dosage."

Daniel opened his mouth, but then understood. "Valid point." He replied. "That might be even better for him. The Templars are one man down for a few years."

I would have killed him then if I could go back, Asgeir. You did much more than kill just any Templar. You killed the man who stole Ingrid's sanity. Had I acted, Helga might still be alive. Gerda might still be alive, with no fear of her own daughter.

"What is that?" I asked, cautiously about the urn.

"Ingrid." Breathed Gerda.

Daniel quietly explained briefly as Gerda mourned. That urn was also given to the sisters by Rumplestiltskin as a "Plan B" should the gloves not work. It was meant to seal people too dangerous to stay in society inside the urn, never to be found again.

Gerda silently held the urn out towards us. Daniel silently took it. "I know where it should go." He whispered.

Gerda smiled at us. The very last smile I ever saw on her face. "I'm going to the trolls." She said. "No one must remember either of them, Helga or Ingrid. Otherwise Arendelle will burn."

Daniel shook his head. "Are you mad?!" He said. "Memory magic isn't a solution! It's more problems! Who's to say something like this won't happen again?"

"It won't." Replied Gerda. "Take the urn, and hide it. Hide it wherever you think it should go. Just get it out of my sight. And get out."

"What?"

"You were supposed to protect Helga, and instead you let that monster kill her!" Gerda snarled at us. "I don't want to see either of you, or any other Assassins ever again!"

Daniel and I had no more words. Nothing left in the line of trying to reach out to Gerda. Both her sisters were dead because we failed to act. Not much hope left now. We only turned and walked away.

* * *

Daniel and I found a place for it. An old cave from a deteriorated precursor site, it had eroded to a small cave in the mountainside after the Piece of Eden connected to it was removed years before then. Daniel placed the urn where the Piece once stood with a heavy heart. He had a weakness for the sisters, too. Something about his long friendship with them made this one of the hardest actions to deal with.

"We can't forget this." He said after he placed the urn down.

"Why?"

"What if the Templars find this place? Ingrid could be used as a weapon against us. We both only stood by instead of protecting her when Gerda sealed her in that urn. We need to remember this so that we can protect this cave. If we forget who Ingrid was, it would put us at a disadvantage."

"So how do we do that?"

"Magic beans." He replied. "Whatever spell the trolls unleash on the kingdom, it won't affect us since we'll be in another realm. A Land Without Magic."

* * *

***Asgeir POV***

"Daniel and I reported to Maunu that we were needed in another realm on urgent business. Your father and I spent a week in the Land Without Magic until we were certain that the spell was cast. Then we returned."

"And Agdar? How did he factor into this?"

"With not that many options left for suitors, and only one daughter left, Harald married Gerda off to Agdar, a Templar prince from another kingdom, within the year. After that, we were forced underground to avoid the Templars. Half of them didn't even know we were right under their very noses. Until you were born. Then Agdar ordered a purge of the Brotherhood, and Gerda, a full fledged Templar by this point, concurred, rallying all the troops of Arendelle to find and kill the Assassins. Harald could not oppose his daughter by this point anymore, because his heart gave out three months before you were born. You know the rest."

"I do." I replied. "But I don't understand something: the Duke remembered Ingrid. His last words to me before he died was that Ingrid was a monster as I am. How did he remember?"

"That was a side effect. The poison I shot him with somehow protected him from the spell. I guess he was so insane from it, the spell ignored him. No use taking the memories of someone who lost their mind."

"So what does Ingrid want with me and my sisters?"

Matthew shrugged. "A number of things, I'd imagine. Best I can guess is that she's readying to kill us all. Freeze the kingdom again."

By how Matthew said it, you'd think he was talking about a football game coming up that weekend. I had slightly more intense feelings about this.

"What do we do?!" I pleaded.

"What do we do?" Matthew echoed. "Tell me what to do, and I'll follow those orders, Asgeir."

I nodded. Matthew needed me to take charge for this one, and so I would. "Evacuate the kingdom. Get at least half of the citizens of Arendelle out of here and get them to Corona."

"Corona? Even after Ryan?"

"Especially after Ryan. We need to look past the Rogue's death and focus on the citizens' best interests. Felix will have to listen and understand that we need his help. Avoid any and all collateral damage we can from Ingrid's wrath. And take Olaf with you."

"Take me where?" The little snowman had just waddled in on his snowballs for feet.

Matthew sighed uneasily. "Don't ask me how he got in here. My best guess is that he figured it out by some godforsaken miracle."

I knelt down so that Olaf and I were around equal eye level. "You're going to be taking a trip with Matthew, Olaf."

Olaf grinned, excited. "What kind of trip?"

"A holiday." I replied. "Somewhere warm and sunny all year round."

Olaf nearly lost his head (literally) when I said that. Matthew shook his head, grinning.

"Stupid little snowman." He murmured. Matthew liked Olaf okay, but sometimes he still found it ridiculous that he was talking to a snowman, and he talked back.

I nodded at Matthew. "Get them out of here, and the beans. We're going to need as many as we can, so if we have any seeds or saplings, get them and harvest the beans that we can."

"Aye. Anything else?"

"Don't wait up for me. I'll be there."

"Where are you going?"

"To find Anna. She's up in the mountains with the trolls! If Ingrid is targeting us, I'd reckon she'd go after the one who's all alone right now!" The fear for my blood spread through me faster than the Swifthearts could run.

I bolted out the door and for the exit to the hideout at Matthew started gathering the Assassins to initiate the evacuation. But I knew in my divided heart that despite my efforts, and how fast I would run, I could not catch Anna in time.

* * *

Storm clouds started rolling in, and the wind whistled louder than even I was comfortable with. I clambered up a fallen tree propped against another, and started flying through the branches. I flicked my wrist and shot my Rope Blade out, pulling myself faster through the woods.

With such a storm coming, there was no doubt in my mind. Ingrid was trying to silence Anna and me about what we found. Why she would hide something like this escaped me. Sure, I now knew that she really was a monster, but if she hadn't done this, I would have let it go. Information. It was all I wanted.

I jumped off the last branch and shot out of the wood into the clearing. It was at the base of the West Mountain, which held the path to the trolls. I shoulder rolled, and looked over.

Ingrid already had Anna. From what I saw she had knocked her out, because she lay unconscious at her feet.

"Leave her alone!"

I looked up and saw Belle up on the path. Anna must have fallen. Or Ingrid pulled her down.

Ingrid looked up at Belle, not seeing me. "You'll have to excuse us." She called up to her. "But this is family business."

"I agree!" I called.

Ingrid looked over at me. I flicked my wrists, extending my blades.

"Nice for you to make this easy for me." She smiled.

I responded by shooting my Rope Blade out. Ingrid froze it in mid air with incredible accuracy. Then threw something towards me. It rushed through the air so fast and hard, I couldn't catch it, and fell back unconscious as it hit me smack in the head.

* * *

Anna often wondered how it was that I could escape almost any prison. I had my ways, but the main reason I learned to escape so well is because of my heritage. I break people's chains and help them think for themselves. So naturally, I would know how to break my own chains. The Templars would call me a mad dog that refuses to listen to reason. I would think of myself more as a free eagle. But nothing would enrage me more than a prison that I could not escape from.

I woke to the voice of that damned witch.

"Anna. It's time to wake up, dear. You too, Asgeir" She spoke my own name with such venom.

I groaned as I shook myself awake. At first glance, it looked like a strange prison. I was locked up in what looked like an iron maiden with my head poking out of it, placed about ten feet off the ground from a small pole with a chain wrapped around it as a perch, the ceiling only a foot or two above me. But the hay that lined the ceiling confused me greatly, until I saw Anna beside me and realized I had it backwards: I was hanging upside down, swinging by a chain from the ceiling. Ingrid looked down at me across from the iron bars of our cell.

"What the-?" Moaned Anna, as she stood up. "Where am I?"

"Exactly where you belong." Replied Ingrid.

I shook the maiden frantically, feeling it swing like a piece of bait in the woods. I spat towards Ingrid in disgust.

"Let us the hell out!" I cried.

"You can't just lock us up in here! Elsa won't stand for it!" Said Anna.

Ingrid blinked. "Even when she finds out what you were planning?"

"What?" Said Anna in disbelief. I too was confused at what Ingrid was saying. She was taking this too far for what we were doing.

Ingrid turned the object over in her hands. It was the hat's box, although I was feeling too dizzy to focus with the blood rushing to my head, and the tufts of my shaggy black hair obscuring my view.

"You were planning to use this to strip away her magic." She said.

Anna shook her head, frantically trying to plead her case. "No. That's not why I had it!"

But there was no negotiating with a broken mind. "Really? Then why didn't you tell Elsa about it?"

"That thing has magic that none of us can control or understand, Ingrid!" I yelled out. "We're ants playing with the toys of gods!"

Anna glanced down at me. "We just didn't know how to tell her the truth. We found it with a man that our parents sought out. They went to him looking for a way to strip Elsa of the thing that makes her special!"

Ingrid frowned at her. "And now you're following in their footsteps."

I swung the cage even harder. Anna and I had been there for Elsa as often as we could in these last few years. No matter what, wherever I was, I would come back to my sisters if I heard a cry for help. Ingrid had been here five minutes and was already pointing fingers at us, making me look like the bad guy. She would make a remarkable Templar.

"HOLD YOUR WORDS, CRAVEN!" I roared. ""Anna and I were going to give it to the Assassins and take it to where even it's master couldn't find it! That thing is too dangerous for any mortal to handle!"

Ingrid only stared at me. "Such bold words coming from a bastard. Learn to respect your betters."

There it was. The one word I knew she would use against me. If Anna or Elsa used it, it would be like saying I was an honored soldier to the kingdom. But when I heard it, I only smirked.

"I don't have 'betters'! I'm an Assassin! I bow to no one! You got some nerve trying to shred us apart at the seams. But I guess you could consider it a hobby. I mean, let's not forget what happened to our other aunt."

Ingrid's eyes flashed. I had finally hit that nerve. I knew what no one else outside the Assassins knew. That Helga died by the hands of her own kin.

"Yeah." I snarked. "I know exactly what happened to her. Matthew told me everything."

"Same with the rock trolls." Said Anna, before quickly adding in. "Well, they told me what they knew. I don't know what Asgeir heard."

"The Assassins or trolls shouldn't talk about things that they don't understand." Snapped Ingrid.

"They know better than you think!" I replied.

"What happened to her?" Whispered Anna.

Ingrid blinked again. There was something about how she blinked that reflected just how much of her mind she had lost. "Some secrets are better left buried."

"I don't understand." Said Anna.

I scowled, feeling another wave of dizziness hit me. "I do. Those secrets are buried in the ground just like your own kin, goddamned bitch! But some of us never forget the things that we see as we watch them unfold!"

Although she didn't show it, I could tell Ingrid was shocked at my foul mouth. Most words that I used as insults were considered to be very offensive in Nottingham. You learn a few when you spend many a night in taverns with drunken outlaws.

"What in the bloody seven hells do you want with us?!" I cried out, swinging the maiden. This time, it swung so hard, I banged my head against the bars of the cell. Anna stopped the maiden from swinging me around wildly by grabbing the chain above me.

Ingrid leaned in close to the bars. "What I have always wanted." She breathed. "A family who will embrace me for who I am."

"Hah!" I called out. "Yeah! And I'm sure you'll find exactly that by doing all this, you shite!"

She narrowed her eyes at Anna, once again, ignoring me. "For a brief moment, I thought the three of us could be that family. You, me, and Elsa. But you showed me that plan would never work! You have nothing in common with Elsa and me. You are the odd woman out."

Five minutes. She was here for five minutes, and already trying to replace both of us in one swift movement by locking us up. Why did I get the feeling that this wasn't the only bit of it?

Ingrid turned to me. "As for you. You're even worse, Asgeir. You can't be any part of this family. You tarnish it with your Assassin heritage." She snapped. "You're a boy, so that can't work to begin with. You're also a murderer. A thief. A liar. And worst of all, you're not even purely of this family. All you are, all you'll ever be, is a bastard. And you forget your place in this world. That miserable old duke should have been mine to take from this world, NOT YOURS!"

I swung the cage forward. My hands were free under the doors of the iron maiden, but I knew that Ingrid was smarter than that. There was no escape, as much as I hated to admit it. If only she could see the large finger I was flipping her behind the piece of metal holding me down. I killed the Duke of Weasel Town, and after everything I heard about him from Matthew, how he tried to drive a wedge between my mother and her sisters, succeeded, and made one kill the other, I would kill him again. Only this time I would flay him alive instead.

"And you took Hans, who should have been mine. I would consider us even, but you crossed the line first, bitch." I growled.

"I suppose I'll have to find someone else to replace you, Anna." Ingrid said, ignoring me. It was a real case of the pot calling the kettle black by giving me the silent treatment every time I said something that put her in the wrong.

Ingrid turned, and started to walk away, before I started laughing. It was funny. The whole situation was both the worse I had ever been in, and the most stupid conflict ever. There was no need for there to be bloodshed. I had my answers from Matthew, and that was all. Then Ingrid jumped to conclusions, and made the worst possible choice ever: she chained me up. Only because I asked questions. But it was almost as though I could see the answers to them happening in front of me. Like I was reliving the memories of my father. Was I wrong in thinking that Ingrid killed Helga purposely? Not at all, if that same woman stood right before me, questioning my laughter.

I sniffed, pulling myself together. "Murderer, eh? Well I guess it takes one to know one!" I spat loudly at Ingrid's feet through the bars, her stepping back from my saliva. "I'm going to love slashing your throat in half when we get out of here, you frigid bitch!"

No words. No emotion. Her mind was broken like Anna's heart as she sat on the ground next to me. Ingrid only turned and walked off, leaving the guards to watch us.

"What happened to Aunt Helga, Asgeir?" Asked Anna. "How do the Assassins know this and not the rock trolls?"

I tried my best to keep my head straight. "Matthew knows some things the trolls don't. Some Assassins have developed antidotes to the trolls and their memory magic. But others have learned that the trolls' magic can only affect a certain area in a certain radius."

Anna understood. "You're saying it can only reach as far as..." She tried to figure out the distance.

"Arendelle." I replied. "Their magic only reaches to the boundaries of Arendelle. This all happened four years before I was born. Matthew explained to me that Arendelle once was a safe haven for Assassins as it is now. He knew Ingrid, Helga, and mother, and my father knew our mother very well, too. They were close friends as children, you see. Ingrid discovered her powers when her and her sisters were very young. They promised that they would keep it a secret, and they would never abandon each other. But things became more complicated, and they sought help to someone who everyone goes to."

Anna ran a hand through her hair with dread. "Rumplestiltskin."

I tried my best to nod, with the maiden clamped firmly around my neck. "He made them an offer. As it turns out, we know of both items that he gave the sisters. Elsa's gloves, and the urn."

Anna's eyes lit up. "He's the one who made Elsa's gloves?" She said in surprise.

"Something like that." I said. "No one knows how he gets these items, but he had them, and gave them to Ingrid. Then he also gave them the urn. The idea would be that if her powers got too much out of hand, they could seal her in the urn, never to be seen again. Think of it like Elsa when she ran away, but much worse. I've heard of many bad prisons, and then hell. But this was much worse."

"No wonder Ingrid is this way. She was in there for thirty years."

"No, Anna. That wasn't what broke her. Matthew and Father witnessed this event first hand. Helga was betrothed to a young duke in a small town, but he was scheming to ruin them both. It was that sniveling Duke of Weasel town. He tried to make a move on Ingrid, and when she refused, Helga came in and saw right through the duke's lies. When he threatened them both by exposing Ingrid's secret, Ingrid snapped."

Anna's mouth fell open. "No..."

"Ingrid froze Helga, and it killed her. I don't know how or why, and neither does Matthew. All he can say for sure is that he chased after the Duke, and then returned to find mother with the urn in her hands with Ingrid inside." I started feeling the dizzy spells return, and this time there was no stopping it. All I could do was nod solemnly to Anna as she said quietly "good night" to me.

**A/N: "Boy! That escalated quickly! I mean, that really got out of hand fast!" No, but it really did. Anyways, I promise the next chapter will be up very soon as the Past Arendelle sequence wraps up, and Present Storybrooke can begin. For the superfans of Frozen, you might notice the reference to that creek as Anna and Asgeir approached Oaken's. I laughed so hard at that part in the movie. As for perspective changes, this is not the last time this will happen. I'm debating on shifting the perspective to one of the past player character Assassins in previous games (ie: Altair, Ezio, Connor, Edward, Arno.) But I am positive that at one point, we will see a perspective change to Shay. Those who haven't played Rogue are missing out! It was awesome, but too short. I will be back soon! Feel free to review/fav/follow**


	10. Chapter 10: Past-Everything is Permitted

**A/N: Several suggested Ezio as a perspective character, so I shall try to fit him in. Oh hell, I think each of the player characters might he their moments considering how awesome each of them are in ther own right. Next chapter to come later today!**

Chapter 10: Past-...Everything is Permitted

A week passed as Matthew stayed in Arendelle. He was overseeing the construction for the new hideout for the Assassins. Parts of the old one still stood, but most of it was caved in or flooded when Agdar ordered it to be destroyed.

Elsa and Anna were involved heavily with the building itself as well. Anna knew plenty of several secret passageways that could potentially serve as entrances to the hideout. All they had to do be dug through. Those passages were like doors with no rooms to go to.

On the fourth night of Matthew's stay, we ended up in the lounge, where Matthew was teaching the sisters about one of our favorite games, Liar's Dice.

I peeked at my dice. Four of them were all different numbers, but I had one pair of fives.

"So Assassins play this game?" Asked Elsa.

"Aye. Assassins, thieves, pirates. Anyone who breaks a law like a nobleman breaks his bread." Said Matthew. "Many a game have been played with something precious to the players on the line. Mostly gold."

"So why teach us?" Asked Anna. "I mean, I like playing this game. In fact, it's really fun. But I mean, why would you teach us?"

Matthew smirked at me. "She talks a lot. I like her."

Anna beamed as Matthew explained. "We rarely take chances to truly appreciate the fun things in life, Highness. It's the life of an Assassin. Some of us might even argue that all an Assassin gets for his bloody deeds is a life of pain. Ezio himself said that the life of an Assassin is a life of pain. But we get those rare moments to truly have a life instead of one with the hood. Too many of us hide from the chance to enjoy life. I seize every moment just as Asgeir's father, Daniel taught me. It's why I enjoy this game so much. And I trust that since I might be seeing more of you both, Highnesses, we might as well start making some common interests."

Elsa placed her bid. "Asgeir mentioned that the Assassins have been around for a while. How far back are we saying?"

"Oh, god help me." Matthew laughed. "Not a clue. Some say thousands of years, others say since the dawn of the realm, and the craziest of us suggest that the very first people were an Assassin and a Templar. I can't say for sure."

Anna was about to call her bid, when the window flung open. A pigeon flew in and sat on the table in between the four of us.

"Shoo!" Said Elsa, clearly not happy to have this interruption.

"Hey!" I noticed something tied to it's leg. A message. I untied it, and the pigeon flew out the window.

The note read the typical. "We're needed elsewhere, Matthew." I said, handing the note to him.

He nodded as he read it. We both stood up. Matthew bowed to my half-sisters. "Your Highness. Your Majesty. I beg your forgiveness, but it's clear that we need to continue this game some other time. Asgeir and I have urgent business to attend to."

Elsa and Anna stood up as well. "You have my leave." Elsa said. "Here's hoping we won't have to wait long."

Matthew nodded, reaching into his satchel. His hand was clenched around that magic bean when he pulled his hand out. He bolted for the window, and took the leap of faith out.

I nodded to the sisters. "I'll be back soon, girls-oof!"

Both flung their arms around me in a group hug. Elsa grinned as she pulled away.

"It's poor timing, Asgeir. But I wanted to mention this to you."

"Alright?" I asked.

"On my council of advisors, I have a seat for a specialist in scouts. They report all their findings to him, and he in turn presents them to me. The last one who held the position of Spymaster left when he found out about my powers. He refused to advise someone like me, because he detested magic."

Elsa picked up a small pin on the desk beside her. A gold pin in the shape of an eye, with a ruby for it's iris.

I took it from her hand, understanding what she wanted. I fastened it to my collar, then raised my hood. "When I return, I'm at your service." And I leapt out the window, throwing the bean down as I fell through the portal

* * *

I am an Assassin. I don't take orders from queens or kings. But I can say that I live two lives now. I live one life as an Assassin who will do anything to protect the innocent of his homeland, and those beyond it. The other life I now live is that of a brother who will also do whatever it takes to protect his family. Elsa may give orders to me, but I would not follow them because I was her servant. I would follow them because I was her blood just as she was mine. "Blood of my blood", as a friend of mine would say to me, years from now.

The Creed is not just a belief of mine. It's my life. It's all I know of life. A part of me, like my heart. There may come a day when it all catches up to me. I'm an old man, still hoping I can fight the right side of this war, and the younger Templar pulls me down. I won't give up, or admit he defeated me when he has me on my knees with a gun to my head. I'll only smile and say those words to him. "Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."


	11. Chapter 11: Smash the Mirror

**A/N: I'll look at bringing the next chapter soon. But don't be surprised when you see at what point in time Asgeir will arrive in Storybrooke. I won't give away too much, but know that he doesn't arrive in Storybrooke the very DAY Elsa arrives as well. That's a very shameful coincidence, and I would find that inexcusable.**

Chapter 11: Smash the Mirror

I had been imprisoned so many times, I doubt I could even count that high. It was too easy to get in, with guards all over the realms on the hunt for Assassins like me. But it was much easier for me to get out. I had a whole arsenal of tricks I used to break out. I rarely saw prisons as cages for me. I saw them more like opportunities to test my skills. But I knew that there was no breaking out. The iron maiden's hinges were welded shut, and the bracket keeping the chain in place was built to withstand double my weight. On top of that, swinging the cage only seemed to make the dizzy spells hurt me more and more. There was only one hope for me, and within a few days of hanging upside down like a bat, she finally came.

"Asgeir! Wake up!" I heard Anna cry. She sounded happy.

I weakly opened my eyes, realizing that our only true blood left stood before us.

"Elsa! Thank heaven you're here!" I said, the maiden swinging lightly.

I wasn't positive at this angle, but it didn't look like Elsa was smiling.

"Our aunt Ingrid! She locked us in here!" Said Anna.

Elsa's expression didn't change. "Because you tried to attack her!"

No. No...this couldn't be happening. Ingrid had got to Elsa? "You can't believe anything that bitch tells you, Elsa! She's been lying to you this whole time! She lied about her past, and us! Don't listen to her!" I cried.

"Is she?" Replied Elsa. "Did you learn what our parents were after and then hide it?"

Please Elsa. This isn't you.

Anna shook her head. "I was waiting or the right moment."

"So you lied! And kept this magical object, this hat which could strip me of all my powers!"

Was it too late for her? I was waiting for the scowl to vanish from he faced and tell us it was all a prank. Except it didn't happen.

"Goddamn it, Elsa! That thing is too dangerous for anyone use, and we know it! This isn't funny! What the hell are you thinking?!"

"Silence, Asgeir!" I could feel air in the cell drop a good five degrees, and started seeing my breath rush out of my mouth.

"We would never hurt you!" Said Anna.

"Enough!" Said Elsa in her "I'm the queen" voice. I stared hard at her. She turned to the guard. "Leave me alone to speak with my sister and Asgeir. Now!"

The guard bowed, and walked down the hallway, the sound of my cursing and raging echoing off the walls. The maiden swung wildly like a pendulum as I feebly tried to break out of my restraints. Ingrid's betrayal was one thing. But Elsa was all the family I had left aside from Anna.

"Remember this moment, Elsa!" I thundered. "When you made the wrong choice over which blood cared for you the most! You stupid-"

"Asgeir!" Said Anna. "Calm down!" She turned to Elsa just as the door shut behind the guard. She started sobbing quietly as she pleaded with Elsa. "Please. You have to believe me!"

Elsa glanced down the hall, then smiled. "Of course I believe you! I'm so sorry about all that, Anna!"

I nearly passed out again from shock.

"Wait. This was all a ruse?" Said Anna.

"Bloody hell!" I exclaimed. "So that...oh damn it. I nearly-" I felt sheepish.

Elsa held up her hand, the cell key in it. "Apology accepted, Asgeir. But next time I might not be as forgiving. You need to have more faith in me."

"It was a goddamn ruse!" I breathed, my head swaying dangerously close to the ground.

Elsa opened the cell door, and Anna leapt to her in an embrace.

"I needed the guards to think I sided with Ingrid! I'm so sorry!"

Anna was going ballistic. "Don't apologize! You were fantastic! I believed every word! I was absolutely crushed!"

I smirked, still hanging in the maiden. "You had me, too! You should do more acting! Now can you please get me down?! I think I'm going to pass out again!"

Elsa smirked. "Ingrid had the maiden melted shut by the smiths, but I know how to break it open." She raised her hand, and I felt a large amount of ice gather through the inside of the maiden, breaking through the spaces in between the pieces in the maiden. It fell to pieces soon enough, and I immediately saw what was keeping the chain up. I had been chained to the ceiling by my foot. A simple feat, now. I reached up and grabbed the chain, undoing the poor entanglement around it. I fell onto the cold stone floor, right on top of my shoulder.

"Asgeir! You alright?" Said Anna.

I raised my hand. "Nothing to it!"

Elsa held up something else to Anna. Her snowflake pendant.

"Here. I got this back from the jailer."

"Thank you."

Elsa fastened it back around Anna's neck, reunited again.

"When they took this, it was like they were taking you." Said Anna. "I'm never going to take this of again." She vowed.

"Well, hopefully you never end up in prison again!" Said Elsa.

I smirked. "Easy enough to say that to Anna. But as for me..." Elsa raised an eyebrow at me as I laughed.

Elsa then reached over to a table near the cell. "Missing these, Asgeir?" She tossed my Rope Blades back to me, and I fastened them onto my wrists. I smiled as I flicked my wrists, the blades extending beautifully with a gleam to their steel.

As I stepped out of the cell, both sisters hugged me. "I'll never lose faith in you two again." I promised.

"Speaking of which, with the whole prison thing," said Anna. "I'm really worried about Ingrid. She's scary! And powerful, and smart, and scary!"

"You already said scary." Said Elsa.

"But she forgot 'off her bloody rocker'. And no, she isn't smart. She's very stupid. If she was smart, she wouldn't have made me her enemy."

"I'm hoping you have a plan?" Said Anna.

Elsa nodded. "I have a plan. Well, half a plan. We're going to sneak you out of here, and then steal back the urn, and then trap her inside it."

"That sounds like a whole plan." Said Anna.

I nodded. "I have a place where the Assassins and I can take the urn afterwards. We won't be seeing her anytime afterwards."

The fires of Mount Doom came to mind as the place to throw the urn, but it would be a challenge to climb it. That's right. It exists.

"However," said Elsa. "I don't know where she hides the urn. And we live in a very, very large castle."

"Don't worry about that part." Said Anna. "I grew up running around this castle. I know every nook and cranny."

Elsa smiled, sure that with her sister and Assassin brother at her side, Ingrid would be returning to that urn within the day's end.

"Where are the rest of my weapons?" I asked.

Elsa shook her head. "I'm not sure. I think the jailer may have stored them in his quarters, but it's usually surrounded by guards."

I rolled my eyes. "Not a problem. Do you prefer I take them out, or knock them out?"

Elsa shook her head. "Please keep all bloodshed at minimum."

I raised my hood. "It will be done."

* * *

Checking each room we could, while avoiding the guards patrolling the halls, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and I searched vigorously for the urn. Several times we almost got caught until I pulled out my air rifle and quietly shot the guards, putting them to sleep.

"So why is it that we're trying to ruse the guards that are supposed to be on our side?" I asked.

"Ingrid's taken a position of command in the castle by default, Asgeir." Said Elsa. "The guards must report back to her with any suspicious activities without question."

"How did things go this bad this fast?" I wondered out loud.

"Hans." Replied Elsa.

"So I heard."

Elsa looked surprised. "You knew?"

"I'm your Spymaster. Of course I knew." I leaned around the corner, checking for guards. Kristoff and Anna were off checking another wing, figuring splitting up might be the best course of action.

"So Hans was after this urn, right? He thought it could be used to trap you?"

"And it still can. But Ingrid was in there first. I don't know why, but clearly you know something about that? Why else would Ingrid lock you up?" Elsa figured if Ingrid had locked me up with Anna, I must have known something I shouldn't have.

I shook my head. "Not the time. If we get the urn, and the upper hand, I'll explain everything I told Anna."

Just then, Anna came rushing around the corner, with barely a sound. She had been practicing her light foot, I noticed.

"We may have found something." She said.

As we walked down, Elsa had another question. "I haven't seen Matthew or any of the other Assassins for days now. Is there something else you didn't tell me, Asgeir?"

I nodded. "I know that whatever Ingrid has planned has potential collateral damage. I couldn't risk the citizens' safety, so I had Matthew round up a portion of about half of Arendelle's people. They'll be taken to Corona. They'll be safe."

"I would normally say that it was wrong to go over my head and order an evacuation without my consent, but it's what I would have done if I had foreseen this. Good work, Asgeir."

I grinned "Olaf's with them. He's going to love it in Corona."

"You said it." Said Anna. It's practically summer every day down there for the kingdom, so naturally, Olaf would be having the time of his damn life down there.

Kristoff was waiting for us at the door. "This might be it." He said.

Anna opened the door to the room. Every piece of furniture was covered with dust, and the air was thick. It hadn't even been opened in years.

Kristoff coughed. "It's dusty in here." He said.

I smirked. "Really? That bothers you?"

Kristoff pointed at me. "Hey! I may have slept in a barn, but it was a spotless one."

I raised my hands. "Hey, I'm not judging you."

Elsa and Anna started looking around the room carefully.

"I've never been in this part of the palace." Said Elsa. She glanced at Anna as she knelt down, looking underneath a covered bed. "What makes you think Ingrid hid the urn here?" She asked.

"Mother and father told me not to go into the east wing because it was crumbling and dangerous. So of course I had to."

I laughed as Elsa muttered "naturally."

"My little sister, the rule breaker. Shame on you!" I wagged my finger, looking around. I felt my Sight kick in, and started hearing the whispering that accompanied it.

"You know, in most places it's the west wing that's forbidden." I thought out loud.

"But it didn't seem dangerous to me. Just...forgotten." She said.

Elsa stood up. "Mother probably wanted to forget the painful memories of her sister."

"You royals sure go to exhaustive lengths to ignore your issues." Said Kristoff, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, you'd expect that out of Templars." I said. "Templars sweep their internal problems under the rug, but us Assassins take out the problem as soon as we see an opportunity."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "It's truly a wonder we're related, Asgeir."

Anna suddenly realized what Kristoff was doing. "You're still here?! You're supposed to be outside keeping watch. And remember, if you see Ingrid, use the secret signal." She stopped. "Wait, do we have a secret signal?"

"Uh, I think 'run' will work just fine." He replied.

I shook my head, then whistled "Johnny Comes Marching Home". "Use that." I said.

Kristoff nodded, and walked out.

"We use that song all the time in the Order." I said to Anna. "Whistling doesn't raise suspicions as much as you'd expect."

It was then that Elsa came to the highlight of the tour: a broken mirror stood in the center of the room, several of it's shards littering the floor in front of it, and the impact cracks laid out in the center like a glittering spiderweb.

"What is it, Elsa?" Said Anna. "Is everything alright?"

Elsa was feeling exactly what I felt as I stared at that mirror: dread. Something was wrong here. Almost like the mirror itself in front of us, there was a big piece to this conflict that was missing. Mother had sealed Ingrid in the urn so long ago. Matthew didn't see it happen, and Father never told him. All I could think of was that Ingrid must have killed Helga purposely. It would even make sense if I were to ask why: people with Ingrid's common sense would kill those who would help them, and everyone else. All Ingrid cared about was slaughtering as many as she pleased if it meant that she could have people that accepted her, not realizing that doing such an act only scares people away. Oh, the irony.

"I was just thinking." Said Elsa. "What it must have been like when mother and Ingrid were younger. I wonder what happened that made them turn against each other?"

Anna and I shared a glance for a moment. Elsa could wait for that truth, as well.

"Knowing Ingrid, I'm not surprised things got ugly." She said, excusing the truth for a moment.

I sat on the table beside the mirror. The whispers of the haunted room continue to move through my head, but I ignored them for a moment to comfort my two sisters.

"You don't need to worry." Said Anna. "It's in the past! And you, Asgeir, and I know that can never happen to us."

I smirked. I hoped that Anna was right. I kill Ingrid, and this could all be over. Anna gestured me over and I put both my arms over each of their shoulders.

"Let's find that urn." I said. "Time's wasting."

I walked over to the other side of the room. The whispers started becoming clearer, and I repeated out loud what they were saying.

"Wardrobe!" I said, pointing to the only one in the room, right beside Anna.

Anna nodded, and opened it. I drew my flintlock out quickly at what was inside.

"Jayus!" I cried as Anna jumped back, yelping. It was Hans. His frozen body cowardly holding up his hands. No doubt he was hoping for mercy in his last moment before becoming another human Popsicle.

I advanced on the wardrobe as Anna picked up a candelabra.

"There's that prick!" I smirked. "Does he look a bit cold to you?"

Anna laughed a little at that. "Ingrid did this?"

"To be fair, it's the one good thing she's done since getting out of that urn."

I shook my head. "Hans was supposed to be mine. He'd be an example to his family that the Assassins are protecting Arendelle."

"Later, Asgeir. We need to focus." Said Elsa. She pointed at his feet. "There it is." She knelt down and picked up the urn carefully.

"That's it?" I asked.

"It's smaller than I imagined." Said Anna. "Must not have been very comfortable."

Elsa stared at the urn. "Well, she's going to have to make do. Because she's going right back inside it."

I turned back towards the wardrobe, and drew my sword.

"Asgeir!" Whispered Anna. "What are you doing?"

I smiled at Anna. "Relax. I'm not going to kill him. Yet. Wisearse thought it was funny to make a joke about my face and my scars last time we met. Let's see how he likes it."

With one quick swipe, I carved a deep slash across Hans' face. I wasn't sure what the result would be if he ever unfroze, but I doubted it would be good for him. Would he die, or what?

"When I kill him, it's going to be up close, personal, and when he's fully awake. So I can see the look on his face when he dies."

"No need to be grim, Asgeir." Said Elsa, tucking the urn under her arm. "We got what we came for. Now, let's go."

I just noticed that she had her gloves on as we headed out the room, Kristoff coming along.

"When this is all over, don't put those back on." I said. "That's not you anymore."

"I know. When this is over, I'm taking them off for good. Soon enough."

No, Elsa. Not soon, as much as I hated to admit it. Much, much later.

* * *

You come to learn over this kind of life that breaking out of prison is a lot easier than breaking in. So as not to arouse suspicion, Anna and I would have to return to our cell to set the trap for Ingrid. I had rather I slid my blade across her throat, but I had my duty to Elsa and Anna as their brother, and had to respect their decision. But they agreed I would find the place to put the urn when we had her trapped in it.

As we crept down into the prison, Anna brought up a good point. She looked over at the sleeping guard, and smiled.

"He looks peaceful! We should probably look into hiring some new guards when this is all over." She said.

"Smart." Said Elsa. "Asgeir?"

I knew what she meant. "We can discuss it with Matthew when I call him back here. I know you'll find several loyal Assassins to help out here."

Anna smiled. "Awesome."

We turned the corner and reached the cell.

"Now are you sure you're going to be okay down here?" Said Elsa.

"Yes! It's not as bad as it looks." Said Anna.

"Psh! Speak for yourself!" I retorted. "You weren't dangling upside down by a chain."

"Right. And the dankness, and the darkness, and the mice. Who are cute when they're not scurrying over your toes. But I have shoes!"

I nodded. "We'll be fine, Elsa."

"I promise you both, I won't be long." Said Elsa. "As soon as I return to the palace, I'll tell Ingrid that you're to be banished, and she is to see to your punishments personally."

"Right. And when she comes down here, I'll surprise her with the urn." Said Anna. "Not like party 'surprise!'. Something more dower to match the occasion like-"

"Surprise..." I said in a low, somber voice.

Anna grinned. "Hey, that's good!"

Elsa's brow creased with worry. "What if something goes wrong? Maybe I should come down here too, just in case?"

I placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "If Ingrid even tries to lay a finger on Anna, I'll make sure she doesn't have enough time to realize her mistake. Can't have you down here. Otherwise it might end up with you in that urn."

Anna nodded. "Please don't worry. I promise, everything is going to be fine."

We all smiled with reassurance. This could only end one way, but I had faith, like they both taught me. Keep the faith, and don't give up.

Elsa opened the cell door, and Anna and I stepped inside. She closed the door behind us, then locked it.

I placed a fist over my heart, and Anna nodded. Elsa smiled, and walked away.

Just then, I heard it. The whispers. The two words I didn't want to hear: "Too late".

Anna jumped and the urn disappeared from her hands, and shackles appeared on them. They did for me as well, but these were no problems to undo almost as soon as I was chained. But I was smart enough to not throw them off so conspicuously. Thank god for the warning, even if it was only two seconds.

Ingrid jumped out from the shadows. "Surprise!" She said, beaming. "How was that?"

Anna scowled. "I'd have done it different."

Ingrid had something in her hands. It was long, and shiny, but it didn't look like a knife. It was too bright.

"Well, I'm afraid you won't get the chance. See I was hoping that Elsa would believe the lies I told her, but I knew I had to be ready in case she didn't."

I smirked. "Elsa knows who she stands with. Not freaks like you! She won't turn on us! Never!"

"Never? That's a strong word." Said Ingrid.

"You know another strong word?" I felt my wrist tighten, and jumped for her, the chains breaking off. "DIE!" I flicked my wrist, and shot towards her, the eagle and it's prey, my blade extending.

Ingrid didn't bat an eyelash as she countered. She swiped the long object in her hands through the air, and I felt it slice through my eyes. I could hear glass breaking as the object shattered, striking me across the face. I fell to the ground on my back, the wind knocking out of me.

"What did you-AUGHHHGHHHH!"

To say it was hundredfold the most pain I had ever felt would be a sad understatement. The dagger's shards seemed to leech through my eyes as I felt the whole world go blurry around me. I heard voices whispering the words.

_"Liar. Thief. Killer. Bastard. Outlaw. Devil._"

The voices went on, but I could also hear Anna screaming my name down at me in horror, as I thrashed on the floor in pain, the shards of whatever Ingrid hit me with digging into my eyes.

"What did you do to him?!" Cried Anna.

"All I did was give him the fate he deserved. Now he won't save you, and neither will Elsa."

"You don't know them! You don't know me!" Cried Anna, struggling with the chains.

"Oh, but I do. We're a lot alike, Elsa and I."

"The HELL YOU ARE!" I rasped. But yelling only made the pain worse, if that was even possible. I had never felt torture like this before. I thrashed and kicked like a bull, hoping for the pain to end. But the end was nowhere in sight. I even considered piercing my throat on my blade to ease the pain and stop it. Or gouging my eyes out at least.

"That's right." Said a voice. "Give up. Stop fighting and die."

I tried my best to calm down, the pain increasing by the second.

"We had families, but we both grew up in this palace. Isolated, and alone." Continued Ingrid. I kept thrashing against the pain, it now spreading through my whole head. Thousands of angry voices whispered in my head hateful things. Things of how my family didn't love me, and neither did the Assassins. How they all needed to be punished. But somehow, I didn't want to do it. It was almost as if I was able to at least feebly block out some of why Ingrid's dagger had done to me. It made the pain increase much further, but I needed to fight it. For them. For my only family left.

"I liked to go to the library, and bury myself in a good book. My favorite was an ancient Norse legend. The Trolden Glass. Perhaps you read it."

"NOOOOAAUYGGHH!" I cried. But it wasn't because I hadn't read it. It was because I knew where this was going. I had read that story. What Ingrid just said made me realize the curse from that story was real, and now it was digging through my mind, almost trying to force me to hurt Anna. Or Elsa. Someone innocent. Or maybe the Assassins. They killed people all the time, and someone who killed was not innocent. So maybe it wasn't so much of a bad idea that I could pierce their hearts and take their lives.

No, I couldn't do that. I needed to fight this. Stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent. The single most important tenet of the Creed, in my opinion.

"Of course I read it!" Said Anna. "I read everything in there."

"Tell me what you remember."

Anna quivered. "Giving a book report would be a lot easier if you'd let me go!"

"The other option is I kill you!" Ingrid raised her hand.

The pain coursing through my head was blue hot, and I could barely speak or stand. But that last word made me jump up. Ingrid replied by putting her hand right over my face, and shoving me into the ground.

"Goddamn twat!" I gasped. "I'll make you aauugh!"

As I felt another spike of pain hit me, Anna did her best to recite what she had read. A king mourned over his young daughter's death so close to her own birthday. Her birthday present was a mirror so that she could see how beautiful she was. But her death filled him with anger and sorrow, and that sorrow also filled the mirror. And he wanted others to feel that pain as well. So he cast the Spell of Shattered Sight.

"It made his subjects see only the worst in the ones they loved. And they turned on each other, destroying themselves." Said Ingrid.

"What does that story have to do with anything?" Said Anna.

"You were in my room. I'm sure you saw the mirror." Ingrid picked up a shard from the glass dagger she had slashed my eyes with. "This is just a small piece of it. I spent years gazing into that mirror."

"Blondie likes her own reflection! Egotistic much?!" I spat.

Ingrid ignored me. She could never admit that it was her actions causing all this chaos, not the doing of others. One common denominator with maniacs that I realized over time is denial. Denial that anything they do is wrong. Everything they do has no consequences. She only saw me, a killer, lying on the floor, crying like a wounded boar.

"But all I saw reflected back at me was pain." She continued. "Just like the Nordic king."

Anna realized instantly what she was doing. "You're going to cast that spell."

Ingrid smiled. "The Spell of Shattered Sight. I already did it to him." She pointed at me. "I gave the worst part of that sorrow to him, and it's cutting through your dear bastard brother's mind. All the worst of the pain from the king, and his subjects is now digging through his head."

So those were the voices. Every negative emotion left from those who died in the chaos, urging me to get up and kill Anna. I had about as many weapons par with a small cache. It would be too easy. I always hated hearing the sound of that little girl babble on and on about everything. Yes, it would be easy. And very enjoyable.

*Stop it! This isn't you, Asgeir. Anna and Elsa are who you now live for along with the Assassins. You're in their life now because you couldn't see Anna's life taken away. You saved her life, and you'll do whatever you can to help her.* I thought to myself.

"It would take an entire lifetime to cultivate enough power to cast a spell over an entire kingdom." Ingrid grinned. "Luckily, I only need to cast it over you."

I screeched. Wether pain, or fear for Anna, I don't know. I tried to stand up and take the blow of the curse, but all I could do was stand up a bit, and then stumble into the wall.

The spell's shards floated across the cell towards Anna. She withered, trying to stop it from reaching her. But all we both could do was wait with dread as the shards entered her eyes, cracking them.

The look of fear on Anna's face vanished. Instead, it turned into a scowl. She didn't say anything as Ingrid undid her chains. Anna grabbed the urn from the ground, and stalked off.

Ingrid looked down at me. "Remarkable. You're somehow resisting the spell. You clearly have a stronger will than I expected. Please stop this foolish crusade, Asgeir. It's time everyone saw you for what you really are."

I stood up with anger, the shards digging into my head. "You're wrong, Ingrid."

"Well now. You actually know your manners. No crass name for me this time?"

I shivered, the pain still increasing by the second. Was I going numb to it? Either way, I needed to stop Anna. I'd kill Ingrid after I stopped whatever chaos would soon ensue.

Ingrid started towards the dungeon exit, eager to see Anna turn on Elsa. It was too easy. She expected Elsa to freeze Anna to protect herself, leaving Elsa "alone" to be comforted by Ingrid.

"YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DIE?!" I shouted, the dungeon swirling around me. I could have been talking to a brick wall, for all I cared. "FINE! But the moral way to take souls is by your own hands. If you want this, all of this bullshit, then do it yourself!"

An old belief of mine. It was why I resented most magic. My father believed that a king who sentenced his men to death, must swing the sword himself. If he didn't, he would soon forget what death truly meant. I knew what death meant, and didn't take lives for granted. All those that died at my hands deserved to die. But Ingrid didn't know what death meant. She would have everyone around her kill themselves and sit back in enjoyment instead of killing them herself.

Shadows of sobbing widows, and people tearing each other apart moved past me. They all yanked on me like a dead molar, wanting me to let go, and join Anna in this twisted curse of mind control. But I didn't listen. I would not give up faith in either of them. Anna was not acting on her behalf, and Elsa would never hurt a soul, no matter what. Those two needed me just as much as I needed them. Because without them, I would be broken. I would not be alone, I knew that perfectly clear. The Assassins were my family just as much as Anna and Elsa. But broken would be the fate that I faced if Anna died by Elsa's hand forced by Ingrid, and Ingrid took Elsa from me.

_"Bastard."_

_"Thief."_

_"Scumbag."_

_"Weakling."_

_"Criminal."_

_"Freak."_

I tried refusing to listen. I was a drunk man stumbling over a tightrope, dangerously close to falling into a sea of shattered glass. I felt stairs at my feet, and climbed furiously.

_"You have failed me, son."_ I heard my father's voice. _"You let that monster hurt those you care about."_

_"You are no son of mine!" _I heard a woman's voice. Mother's no doubt. "You're just a bastard!"

I ignored the light, stumbling down the hallway. Elsa had said she would be waiting for us in the lounge when it was done. I thought I could see Anna and Ingrid round the corner at the far end of the hallway as I stumbled.

Ingrid stopped, waved over a pair of guards, then pointed at me.

"He means to kill the Queen! Seize him!"

They charged at me, the voices of the dead that opposed me whispering to me.

_"I followed the creed, and you still killed me!"_ Said Ryan. _"You've started an internal feud in the Brotherhood, because you thought I was in the wrong!"_

_"All I did, I did because of my duties to my family."_ Said Fritz._ "Arendelle belongs in the control of nobles that don't shoot ice from their hands."_

_"You stupid Assassins keep to the company of all kinds of monsters. It runs in your family." _Said the Duke.

The guards tried to hold me down, but I managed to pull them both off, and get them both in the face, knocking them out. I had to keep going.

I felt the frame of an open door, and leaned forward, letting my legs guide me into the room. It was the right one. I felt it.

"-It's all chocolate. I'm afraid the ice cream's long melted, but I can make you more if you like."

The clichés and inside jokes with us never ceased to make me laugh. Through all the pain, voices, shadows trying to stop me, and the room swimming around me, I think I chuckled a little.

But Anna was all gone. "It's just like you." She snapped. "Thinking some food and fancy jewelry can make up for everything you did to me!"

Elsa's smile vanished. Had she noticed me stumble in yet? I needed to get the urn away from Anna.

"Everything I did to you? Anna, what are you talking about?" Elsa smiled a little, thinking this was some sort of sick joke. I fell to the ground beside one of the chairs. I grabbed the base of the leg, and used it to pull me across the floor towards them. I needed to get up and jump for the urn.

"It all came back to me when we were in the east wing of the palace. How you ignored for all those years. Left me to wander this place like a ghost."

Elsa was aghast. "Is this a joke?! Because of my ruse? Because if you're trying to get back at me, Anna, it isn't funny." Elsa then noticed me. "And Asgeir, what's going on? Get up off the floor! The servants just cleaned it."

I'd have smiled if I wasn't in so much pain. I had been impaled once, stabbed fourteen times, flogged three, burned five, and countless cuts and bruises from all those years of training and jobs for the Assassins. But all that collected paled thousandfold in comparison to this. This was the devil's judgement condensed in a goddamn piece of cursed glass. I reached up to the table, trying to push myself up onto my feet.

"Speaking of which." Said Anna. "You, Asgeir. You were just as bad. You knew just how much pain I was in, but you left me alone for all those years just as Elsa did. You knew I needed someone to talk to, someone to have as a friend, but you left me and ignored me all the same. You couldn't work up the guts to approach us until it was too late!"

I knew it was all part of the spell, but those words seemed to only add onto all the pain I was feeling. I had to steady myself against the table, shaking a plate of chocolates so hard, they fell to the floor.

Anna turned on Elsa again. "Do you want to know the worst part?" She asked. "You let me believe it was all my fault. That I had done something wrong."

I failed to see anything wrong in anything that Anna had just said against Elsa, even with my resisting to the curse. But we all make mistakes. For example, I made the huge mistake of not killing Ingrid the second I saw her. She glowed red from my Sight, but all the same, I let her live.

"Anna, put down the urn!" I cried, squinting my eyes in pain. I started to feel cold. It wasn't Elsa's doing, but it wasn't Ingrid either. I was feeling something from the spell. Maybe it decided I had resisted enough, and wanted to kick it up another couple of notches.

"How can you say these things?" Said Elsa. "We promised we'd never be like this. What's happened?"

"Fight it, Anna!" I yelled. "Keep all faith! I believe in you! Please, fight it!"

I started feeling the pain spread. It was starting in my hands, and I felt my grip start to loosen on the table. I shook wildly, and gripped the table harder.

"I've come to my senses." Said Anna, reaching for her pendant. I wanted to stop her, but doing so would be impossible. All I could do was watch with horror as Anna tore off the pendant, and tossed it into the fireplace. Elsa was horrified.

"This isn't you! It can't be!" She exclaimed.

"You're right, Elsa! It-" I said.

"I'm afraid it is."

Ingrid walked in, and I pulled out my flintlock. "YOU!" I snarled, pointing the pistol to Ingrid. The swimming world around me tried to force me to miss the shot. I couldn't steady myself.

"Ingrid you're not-"

"In an urn?" She said. "No. Fortunately I have a chance to show you that I am the only one who will ever understand you. Anna, nor Asgeir ever will."

"Piss on that!" I snapped. "You've done too much damage for me to keep you alive, you bloody craven witch!"

Elsa looked at me, then Ingrid with disbelief. "This is because of you!" She said. "You used your magic to cast a spell on them."

"Atta girl, Elsa!" I smirked, still aiming my gun for Ingrid. I wanted to pull the trigger so badly, but I also wanted to savor this moment. I wanted Ingrid to realize just what a freak she was before I did so. And then I'd make her pay for wounding this eagle.

"No, just Anna." Said Ingrid. "Asgeir's recklessness caused him to shoot himself with his own poison dart. It's why he's in so much pain."

Crazy, and naive. I had years of experience with poisons, and the berserker darts I carried I had loaded into cartridges for my rifle. I would never be so eager to kill Ingrid that I would unwittingly prick myself with a dart. Elsa knew that as well. I could see it in her eyes. She refused to believe Ingrid, just as Anna refused to believe what our mother sought Rumplestiltskin out for.

"I cast a spell on Anna that reveals her true feelings. Even if she wasn't able to admit them before. Her deepest, darkest emotions now brought into the light."

"You wouldn't even talk to me!" Snapped Anna. Then she mocked Elsa. "'Go away, Anna! Go away, Anna!' You're supposed to be my sister!"

Elsa would not give up, and neither would I. But some part of me wanted to pull my other flintlock out and shoot the urn out of Anna's hands. But I couldn't do it. I wouldn't. Elsa gave up too often as a child, and now that she was finally moving on, letting all of the past go (yes, I see what I did there), I would not give up on Anna either.

"I am your sister! Anna, please! Put down the urn!"

Then it happened. I pulled out the other gun, and aimed it at Anna. "Let go of the bloody urn, Your Highness." I said in a voice I never heard.

"She won't listen to you, Elsa." Said Ingrid. "Just like your mother wouldn't listen to me! The only way to stop her is to truly accept who you truly are! Use your powers on her!"

"You're out of your goddamn clock, woman!" I screamed, focusing on the gun in my left hand, pointing at Ingrid. I could see my own inner struggle. One was wanting to shoot Ingrid to stop her from all this misery, and the other was considering shooting Anna to protect Elsa. If I could only save one sister, who would I choose?

"No! I won't give up on my sister!" Said Elsa.

"Don't do it, Elsa! Anna, PUT DOWN THE FUCKING URN!"

"Do it! Elsa, freeze her!"

My head kept snapping from Elsa, to Anna, to Ingrid, and back again. If I didn't act within seconds, someone I cared for was going to get hurt. But the curse was shaking my aim off. I could shoot Elsa by mistake.

"No, I won't! I won't hurt my sister!" Said Elsa.

"DO IT!" commanded Ingrid.

"I will kill you right now if you don't shut up, bitch!" Then why wasn't I shooting her already?!

Anna started to lift the urn's lid.

"ANNA! NO!" I rasped.

Elsa glanced at me, and for a second, I thought I saw her smile. But it wasn't for reassurance. It was for a goodbye.

Elsa crossed her arms, refusing to hurt her own blood. "Do what you will, but know that no matter what, Anna, I love you!"

Anna pulled the lid off, and I saw Elsa seem to transform into some kind of liquid as she went into the urn.

"NOO!" I roared. "ELSA!"

As soon as the urn shut, Anna winced. "Wait, what?"

Ingrid couldn't believe what happened. "No!" She exclaimed.

Anna looked at the urn. "Elsa?!" Then she looked at me. "Asgeir? Where's Elsa?! What did you make me do, Ingrid?!"

Ingrid advanced on Anna. "You foolish girl!" She snatched the urn from Anna's hands. "This is all your fault!"

That was it. I had had it. Just as she was about to grab Anna, I turned my pistol over in my hands, and smacked Ingrid with the metal handle. She backed away, not expecting that strike.

"Her fault?! You made her do this, you whore! As far as I'm concerned, you put Elsa in that urn! You caused this shite storm in the first place! You can never see the people that die by your hands simply because they don't realize the kind of damage you do to them! I'll make you pay for even trying to hurt Anna again!"

The door flew open as Kristoff burst in, but he was not alone. I recognized both of my hooded brothers flanking him. Troy has his crossbow out, and Rabbit wielded his bow and arrow.

"Stay away from her!" Kristoffyelled, his pick axe raised.

"Troy? Rabbit?"

"Not leaving you behind, brother!" Said Rabbit. "We leave no one behind!"

"Let's end this bitch!" Said Troy with his crossbow trained on Ingrid.

I had Ingrid. The barrel of my pistol was right up against her pale skull. I needed to pull the trigger and I needed to do it now.

"Oh." Said Ingrid. Her face was starting to redden from the bruise I had given her. "Here comes the noble hero and his cronies. Just in time to help the vicious Assassin." She started to back away from Anna, raising a finger to us. "I know that look in your eyes! In all your eyes!"

"Let her go!" Said Kristoff.

"We knew there was no trusting you, so either let Her Highness go," said Troy. "Or my winged blade gets to fly right to your head."

"I'm going to kill you either way, Your Lowness, so I suggest you let Elsa go before I spray your brain over the wall." I snarled.

"Eventually, everyone sees me as a monster." Said Ingrid, that psychotic smile cracking over her face. "Maybe it's time to embrace that, and be one!"

Ingrid snapped her hand over the room. I looked at Anna with dread as I saw the whole room coat with ice, thanking god that I had Matthew take most of the kingdom out of the area, because some part of me knew that it wasn't just this room. Arendelle would be entering yet another ice age, much worse than the last one. I heard a click come from Troy's crossbow, but he hesitated so much, the arrow never left his bow as the ice encased him. I closed my eyes to wait for the ice to cover me as well, hearing it crackle around me.

"What?!"

I opened my eyes. Ingrid was still standing in front of me, but Anna, Kristoff, Rabbit, Troy, and the whole room was frozen. Only Ingrid and I were unfrozen.

I scowled at her. "Got something else planned for me? Gonna torture me, because I doubt you can come up with anything words than that dagger!"

"No! You should be frozen as well!"

I smiled. Fate was on my side for now. I could maybe get Elsa to unfreeze the place once I killed Ingrid. This was my chance.

"Last warning, Brain Freezer. Let my sisters go, and I'll make your death quick and painless. Two in the back of the head."

Ingrid seemed to have one more trick up her sleeve. "I have a better idea." She threw her hand forward, a stream of ice hitting me. Square on in the heart.

It was cold. Anna never told me how cold it felt to have her heart frozen, but it was colder than I ever felt before. I fell to my knees, Ingrid standing above me.

"Swear your loyalty to me, dog, and I'll remove the ice from your heart."

I reached for my boot. I couldn't defeat Ingrid in this condition. I would come back with more Assassins to take Ingrid apart. I stood up slowly, and spat at her feet.

"I will find you again. And when I do, I will impale your heart with my best steel. You took my aunt, my sisters, two of my best brothers, and my only home from me. I will spend every waking moment looking for you, and when I do, you will be sent to the burning hot depths of hell."

I jumped up, kicking Ingrid in the face. Then I dashed for the window, and jumped through it, shards flying everywhere. I tossed the magic bean to the ground below, and thought of someplace warm and sunny. Corona.

"I will be back, girls. I will be back." I said, falling through the portal.

* * *

I limped up the hill, the burning sun almost glazing my head under my hood. I clutched my chest with a hard struggle for relief to the chilling pain. The bell tower was a welcome sight, seeing the familiar hooded figures on the surrounding walls, watching for intruders. One of them yelled, seeing me and the gates surrounding the tower opened.

Matthew and Felix were waiting for me inside the gates.

"Asgeir!" He exclaimed when I was inside. I fell to the ground as the gates closed. "We didn't think you made it when it took so long. What happened?"

"Arendelle...it's frozen. But it's much worse since last time. The whole place is just a giant wasteland."

Matthew was surprised, but gathered himself, and nodded, patting me on the back. "We may be here longer than we intended, Felix."

Felix crossed his arms. "One week. I expect you to have left this sanctuary in a week. Until then, 'Me casa, su casa'."

I replied by spitting at the ground in front of Corona's Mentor. "Enough, Felix. Ryan was an arsehole who didn't respect the Creed and twisted it for his own gain. You have got to get over it. You lost a warrior. Big deal. It happens to us all. But because of that psycho, our home is gone, two brothers along with it, and my own blood is gone. So buck up, and remember that we're still brothers here."

Felix stared hard at me, then lightened up. "Kid knows how to talk, Matthew. You taught him well. Fine. We'll do what we can to help out. Just don't think this is a permanent solution."

I turned to Matthew. "Rabbit and Troy... Ingrid froze them, too. I don't know if they're dead or not."

Matthew placed a hand on my shoulder. "That's on me, Asgeir. Not you. I told them to stay behind in case things went south and you needed us." Ingrid. She did that? Freeze the whole kingdom and two of our brothers?"

"Yes. And she did something to me. I think she froze my heart, but it doesn't seem to be freezing me."

"We'll have the maester take a look. What about Elsa and Anna?"

I looked up at Matthew, and shook my head. What I would say I didn't see as a lie at all: "Dead. They're both dead."

Matthew's teeth parted open, but then he bowed his head. "_Hvil I Fred_, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna."

In the slimy paws of Ingrid, my sisters were no better than dead. There was no way I'd be able to get them back yet. And something told me Ingrid wouldn't be sticking around Arendelle for long. She'd done her damage, but she would soon look for more souls to torment and tear apart. I had no idea where to start looking.

I suddenly felt the massive chill hit me like a shovel. "_Hvil I Fred_, dear sisters." I murmured as I fell to the ground unconscious, dreaming of a day that I would wait decades for.

**End Sequence 1: The Falling Eagle**

**A/N: And with that, so ends the first part of Asgeir's story. Next we return, Asgeir will head to Storybrooke after 30 years to finally bring down threats old and new.**


	12. Chapter 12: Return

**A/N: There are some references to events that we have not seen yet, but as you know, that's half of what we see on Once. Asgeir has gone through a lot in the 30 year gap until now, and that includes knowing several people from the Enchanted Forest after Arendelle froze. This chapter also introduces the first of potentially other modern day Assassins from the games.**

Chapter 12: Return

**Begin Sequence 2: The Shattered Eagle**

All I wanted when things started was to be one of the greats. People like Ezio, Altair, Connor, Adewale, Edward, my own father. They were people who became legends in their own right as Asassins. And I aimed to be like them one day. But she took that from me. Ingrid. There are those in the Order who said all I cared about was revenge. Maybe it was revenge, or just satisfaction of putting down the animal that tore my family to shreds. The animal that sealed one of my sisters in an urn, and froze the other along with her future husband, and two of my brothers at arms. It was revenge that drove me. I never forgave, and I never forgot. I may never forgive her at all.

My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. I was an Assassin.

* * *

I knelt down on the hunting blind in the tree. As the deer came into view, I pulled an arrow out of my quiver. I would make the shot this time. This time I would eat real food instead of that canned crap tonight. Yeah, deer sounded good. Anything that I killed myself I could eat instead of something that came from a warehouse a hundred who-gives-a-shit kilometers away.

I nocked the arrow carefully, and drew my bow back. I breathed slowly, waiting for the deer to come into view. I would normally try to aim for the deer myself, but I had been shaking in the fingers for years already. I couldn't risk missing the shot with only another month's worth of food left in the cupboard, and close to nothing worth of money left in the safe. A hundred thousand went by faster than I expected.

The deer slowly wandered through the forest, unaware of my presence. It leaned forward out of my aim to eat some of the grass at it's feet in the snow. I suddenly heard a twig snap, and the deer looked up in a direction away from me. After what felt like a lifetime, it went back to eating.

I was tempted to try to aim for the deer instead of waiting for it to move into my sight, when it suddenly trotted away. I heard a loud banging as the deer left.

I yelled out in anger. All that trouble for nothing. And here I remembered the Interior having deer infesting the place like rats.

I jumped down. I didn't bother trying to track the deer back down either, since I knew I was broken enough to never find that deer again unless it came back to me on it's own.

"Asgeir?"

I pulled my flintlock out and aimed it. A man stood in front of me. He had greying hair and a beard, and had a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Hello, friend." He said.

I walked up, and jammed the gun in his right eye. He didn't do so much as flinch in fear.

"We're not friends! No one's my friend anymore. No one stands by me anymore. Let's not forget those were the exact words you told me when you left me here to fend for myself. When you left me for dead!"

He raised his hands. "Fine. Then let's talk as potential allies again."

I glared at him, then lowered the flintlock. "What the hell are you doing here, William?"

"The Assassins sent me to get you."

I laughed, heading towards the cabin. William followed, hoping he could make things up to me. "The Assassins abandoned me years ago. You abandoned me years ago. You left me here to fend for myself. Why would they give a damn about me anymore?" I snapped.

"Because we found Ingrid."

* * *

Bill came with me back to the cabin. I still hadn't cleaned up from a few nights ago.

"Jesus, Asgeir. You get in a fight with someone? I'd hate to see the other guy."

Almost everything was scattered about like there was an explosion. Bill sat down on the couch while I sat across from him in my easy chair.

"Another attack last night." I said.

"Aha." Said Bill. "Still not able to get ahold of them?"

"No. And the last seven years of solitary confinement out here didn't help one bit."

I lifted my pant leg, showing my chain. A GPS enabled ankle cuff. Had I stepped one inch out of bounds, the Assassins would have destroyed any chance of me getting my hood back.

"If you're going to guilt me, Asgeir, I'm going to leave. I'm not in the mood to have you do this to me."

I looked at the painting above him. Nice painting I bought from an artist in Vancouver. I unloaded my flintlock on the painting, just barely missing William.

"Oh, you're not in the mood? Well, boo hoo. Let's be real honest here. I mean, let us be fucking honest. What happened here ten years ago? You baited me into thinking we found Ingrid, you had me tied up, with a sack on my head, drove me all the way out here, and tossed me out to fend for myself. I think you can put up with my shit just for a bit, you bloody Yank. You. Left me. FOR DEAD! IN BLOODY CANADA! You know the stories?! These pricks are nowhere near as nice as those stereotypes set them up to be!"

Bill eased up a little, clearly intimidated. "Alright. Calm down."

"What's this about Ingrid? Where is the bitch?"

"That's the thing. We think she's in Maine. That's where the curse brought the people from the Enchanted Forest."

"Oh really? I thought you didn't believe in that shit?"

"No, I didn't. Until I got the phone call. Every Assassin stationed in the Enchanted Forest, and the chapter from Arendelle lit up our transmitters like a Christmas tree a year and a half ago. I had heard the rumors of the others lands by the other Mentors, but I was always skeptical. There are others who handle affairs with other lands, not me."

"Let me get this straight. So you found out that they existed a year and a half ago, and no one told me?!"

"Calm down. No, we didn't, because officially, you still weren't an Assassin. Matthew was worried about you, but we told him you'd call soon."

I glared at him. "You lying bastard."

"Asgeir, this is your chance to get Ingrid. Do you want to see what I have?"

I glared at him, still aiming the gun at him. "Let's hear it."

Bill reached into his jacket, and pulled out a file. It was light blue, with the words "Operation: Icebreaker" in big letters written on it. It was my name for the mission on Ingrid when the Assassins sent me here to this Land.

"We dropped the case after we left you here. We figured it was all a load of crap, and let it go. But then someone in Maine took this picture almost two years ago. When the Assassins there thought they saw her, they found the picture in the town's files and sent it to us. Sent us a few more to go along with it."

He held out the file. I pushed back a tuft of my coal black hair and opened it up.

It was a picture that looked like someone had taken from quite a distance away, from the outside looking into a store. It was two blonde women in an ice cream parlor, talking. One I didn't know, but the other still had that smug look on her face that I so wanted to cut in half for decades. I didn't dare turn to the other pictures, thinking my fury towards her would only make me rip the photos to shreds.

"That's her, isn't it?" Said Bill.

"Yes." I said, darkly.

He leaned inwards. "The file also has a couple more new pieces of intel, as well as what you were able to gather up in the past thirty years."

"Thanks." I said.

"No 'thanks'. This isn't for you, Asgeir. The Assassins out there know what kind of threat Ingrid poses to the town, and they're already at war with another enemy in the town. You take out the current threat, then we will do everything we can to getting your family back from her."

"What's the current threat, and where is the town?"

"The town is called Storybrooke, if you can believe it. As for the threat, we have no idea. All we know is that people in the town are disappearing. This could be Ingrid's work, but Matthew said it's unlikely."

"Just know that the current threat is top priority, and then comes Ingrid. So far she hasn't caused anything to go down, so she's not a concern to us for the moment."

"Fine. You got my stuff?"

"All your weapons and personal effects we confiscated are in the pickup outside." Bill placed a set of keys on the table. One was an older car key to a Dodge, but the other was newer.

"What's the other key for?"

"It's to your ankle monitor. This is your chance to get your hood back, Asgeir. I'd say we've given you a good deal: you get revenge on the woman that took everything from you and your hood back, and we may get one of our best Masters back in the fight. Win-win."

"It's been hard for me." I said. "At some point the symptoms to a frozen heart destroy you. I haven't made a shot in years."

"Matthew knows about that, and they'll help train you. Plus he suspects that killing Ingrid may undo the...effects as you said. Are they all still there? The symptoms?"

I shrugged. "Figure it for yourself."

Bill pulled off his rifle, and pushed the barrel in between my eyes. I sighed, and felt the bullet blast me backwards, the chair falling back with myself.

The force winded me for a second, but I just got right back up, no bullet wound present.

"Jesus Christ. That's just-wow." Said Bill. "You're like some kind of Wolverine, Asgeir."

I shook my head. "Wolverine can deal with that. I don't want this anymore. I should have died hundreds of times over. And I haven't really felt pain in a long time. I mean, I feel pain, but not as it should be. At some point you want to feel it because it makes you human."

"You still haven't gotten a hold on everything, have you?"

I scoffed. "I told you, William. The last years of solitary confinement out here haven't helped. You clamped the ankle monitor around me and gave me the boundaries, then left me behind. So of course it wouldn't help. I needed to spend my time finding Ingrid to help my problems. Not sitting here, wanting to die."

"Alright, I get it. Truth be told, I didn't want to be the one to drop all this stuff off, but the council ordered me to since I was the one who left you here. It was my responsibility."

"Damn straight."

Bill exhaled. "All the same, I want to help you. You finish what you started with the Order's permission, and then you won't have to see my face again."

I glanced at the coffee table as I fixed the chair. One of the drinks left over from a few nights ago was still there. I took a long swig of it.

"Fine with me." I said. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. The pickup out there also has enough space to fit a fair amount of your stuff. Take what you want to keep with yourself from this place, and leave the rest at this location." He pulled out a map with an "X" on it a good five minute walk from here. "When you're done, take the C4 charges from the truck, burn this place, and ditch the phone we provided you. Abstergo's been searching for us even harder since December, and you're within their top twenty most wanted."

That was December 2012. The end of the world, as many said. But not entirely. Desmond Miles, an Assassin in exile like me, was supposed to have saved the world. I felt the earth shake that night, but I was also in the middle of the worst attack I had ever had, so I didn't notice all that much.

"Did he do it?" I asked.

Bill nodded. "My son sacrificed himself so that we could keep fighting. We need you to return to us so that we ensure his sacrifice isn't all for nothing. I have no idea what either Ingrid or this current threat plans, but either one of them could potentially set of the chain of events that sends all of New England from the present, into the history books."

"Desmond was a good kid, Bill." I said. "I should like to think he knew he made the right choice."

William nodded, the faintest ghost of a tear shining in his eye. He placed a familiar small black leather satchel on the table, and I opened it up. The beans. Six of them.

Bill stood up. "Nothing is True..."

I nodded. "Everything is Permitted..." I replied.

* * *

I threw the last box into the truck's canopy. I had a lot of possessions from the last thirty years jumping the realms, but the most important of them were in this box. All my weapons and my old hood from Arendelle. As Bill said, the Assassins confiscated them when they banished me here. I was only left with a hunting bow, and a knife. I was also left with a hundred grand as a severance, and told to screw off until I got ahold of my instability. I opened the box, and pulled out the weapons I needed. I had bought several others in Kamloops and Merritt, the only two towns within my boundaries I was allowed to go to. I was somewhere between Kamloops and Merritt on my map, but truth be told it would have made a more appropriate notice if I was told I was halfway between the edge of the world, and hell. I had to go to town every few weeks for supplies. I grew my own food, tried to hunt what I could, and did whatever in those seven somewhat years out there. I was glad to see the whole place gone.

I was thankful for a few necessities out of a modern life in this world. For example, propane. It became that much more easier to cook what lazy animals I could. I never made a shot against animals, but then there were the ones that were sound asleep by the time I grabbed them by the neck and they met the end of my knife.

I pulled out the C4 remote, and hit it. The cabin glowed brightly as it met it's end on account of a few charges of explosives. Smoke billowed up and started spreading across the grass. The fire department would call this a wildfire on account of an abandoned campfire, most likely. Might never even find a scrap of evidence of my house.

I opened the duffle bag that had been left in the truck with a few other essentials. A replacement phone, $20k American, and a walkie talkie which I didn't seem to have a connection to anyone else with. I threw my leg onto the rim of the truck's flatbed door as I stood outside the truck. I pulled up my pant leg and inserted the key into the cufflink and turned. It beeped twice, then undid itself falling just beside the rear wheel of the truck. The flesh around my ankle was moist and wrinkly, after failing to even experience the light of day for years.

There was one other item left in the duffle at the bottom. I pulled it out, then pulled it on: a white zip up hoodie with a dark green lining on the inside. I pulled my hood over my head. The hood was beaked, just like most hoods before this one. I holstered my weapons to myself. My twin cutlasses, my Rope Blades, my flintlocks, the various throwing weapons I carried. The last I stared at with such loathing, yet holstered that air rifle to my back all the same. I climbed into the cab of my truck, and started the engine. I drove away as I tossed the GPS cuff down into the chasm below. Soon enough I started approaching a fence on the dirt road.

"_NO TRESPASSING. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED_." It read.

I ignored it and rocketed for the gate, pushing harder on the gas pedal. It slammed open as I crashed through. I pulled out the bean and started cranking the handle, rolling down the window of the truck. The dirt road started to go at a downward grade that became steeper and steeper. I knew exactly where it would head to after a sharp turn.

Sure enough, the path showed large yellow arrowed signs, urging me to take a left. But I kept driving, speeding past them until I hit the edge of the trees.

The ground gave way instantly past the trees, and the massive ravine I was now falling down ended with the raging white rapids of the nearby river. I tossed the bean down towards the river, and braced myself, closing my eyes.

I kept falling, and I saw the bright green glow around me through my closed eyes. The still open window sprayed some water droplets onto my face as I fell through the portal at top speed. Then I felt the truck hit the ground hard, and I was driving down a road in the middle of a forest. Literally five seconds after I resumed driving on this road, I heard a loud crash on the roof of the truck, and felt something shake the truck hard.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled out, pulling over. Whatever hit the roof of my truck was still on the roof as I pulled over, and stopped. I got out, fuming.

"You know, I was hoping that I could have five minutes in here without-"

"Asgeir?!"

I looked closely at what was on my truck. Little John, Robin Hood's best friend. But he wasn't alone. He was caught in the claws of what looked like a winged monkey. As soon as I saw the beast, I knew who the priority target was.

"Zelena..." I groaned quietly. I pulled my flintlock and aimed it at the monkey.

The monkey snarled, then shot off into the sky.

"Help!" Cried Little John.

"John!" Said a voice.

I turned and pointed the pistol at who came up behind me. "Not another step!" I snapped.

"Asgeir?! Is that you?!"

"I'm not here for five minutes, and something freaky already landed on the roof of my car!" I snarled.

Robin held his hands up. "Put the gun down, my friend. Remember me? I'm an Assassin, like you! Remember? Robin! Robin Hood!" Several Merry Men came up behind him, gaping at who stood before them.

I raised an eyebrow, then lowered my gun. "Yeah. I remember." I holstered my gun and pointed at the roof of my truck where the monkey stood. "Now who is going to kindly tell me what the hell is going on?"

* * *

A half hour later, as I sat on the hood of the truck, two cars approached. One, a brown pickup, the other, a yellow VW bug.

"This!" Said Robin as the driver of the bug got out. It was the blonde from the photo. She wore a dark red jacket that almost seemed like her equivalent of Indiana Jones' hat by the way she wore it. "This was where he was taken!"

"I wouldn't step over that line if I were you!" She said. She took no notice to me just yet, nor did the two men who got out of the pickup. I recognized only one of them. One was wearing a jacket and button up shirt, and the other was in leather from toes to shoulders with a hook for a hand.

"You think Little John was carried away because he attempted to cross that line?" Asked Robin.

"It makes sense." Said David. Just like the others I recognized, he seemed like a ghost to me. "The dwarves were out checking the line to see if anyone was coming or going and they disappeared. Did you say someone else was entering the town as John was snatched?"

"Yes." Said Robin. He pointed at me. "Him."

I had my back to them for a second, but the hook handed man then said something that made me jump.

"Kenway?"

I turned, and lowered my hood. I suppose I did look like the pirate with the hood up, but I was shocked all the same. "No, I'm not Kenway. People just called me Asgeir."

"Asgeir?!" Said David. "What are you doing here?!"

"Answering a call for help." I replied. "And whatever that thing was, it was kind enough to use my truck as a landing pad."

"Wait, David." Said the blonde. "You know this man? He's not an outsider?"

David nodded. "Asgeir was one of our fiercest allies in the war against Regina."

"That's a name I never heard of." Muttered the blonde.

"It's not very common." I agreed. "And you are?"

"Emma." Came the reply.

"Emma?" I asked with realization. "Then you're..."

"Yeah." She replied. "The Savior. I get that a lot."

I jumped off the hood of my truck. "Let's make better introductions later. What the hell was that thing, and why am I the one to receive the shit welcome by it?"

"Didn't get a good look." Said Robin. "Some manner of beast with wings."

"That sounds a lot like the monster that attacked me in New York."

The hook handed man smirked. "The monster you were going to marry?"

David raised an eyebrow at his daughter. Yes, that's right. His daughter was the same age as him. I had missed a lot since the Curse. "You were going to marry someone?"

"Did you just miss the part where I said 'monster'?!" Said the other guy.

"We need to find Little John!" Said Robin.

"It may lead us to everyone else's who's gone missing. David, take him and the rest of his-" Emma couldn't remember the name of Robin's brothers.

"Merry Men." He replied.

"Right. Them, and Asgeir, and run a search grid and see if you can find any sign of our missing guy."

"You not joining us, Swan?" Asked the hook handed man. I assumed that must be her last name.

"Not yet. Regina was right. I'm not going to figure out who's behind this curse by talking to people one by one."

For a second there I could have sworn she said Regina. As in Evil Queen Regina. I really _had_ missed a lot while I was gone.

"What are you going to do?" Asked David.

"I'm going to talk to everybody." She said as she walked away. She got in her Beetle and drove off.

I glanced the hook handed man. "You called me Kenway. Like Edward Kenway? THE Edward Kenway?"

"Aye. One and the same. You must know of him. I knew him personally."

I shook my head. "Impossible. He lived three hundred years ago. Who are you?"

The hook handed man bowed slightly. "Killian Jones. Although you might know me by my other moniker-"

"Hook!" I realized. Both of his names were familiar to those in the criminal underworld of the Land of Magic. "So you really did know him. Was he a friend?"

"Of a kind. He had me at the end of his sword, but let me go as a show of respect and welcomed me to Nassau. Never knew why he wore that hood. Was he part of a cult or some nonsense?"

"We can exchange history lessons later, guys." Said David. "Right now we have a missing person to find."

As we headed through the woods, I asked David quickly. "Emma mentioned Regina. Is this the same Regina that tried have me hung, drawn and quartered for butchering all those black knights?"

"You've missed a lot in the last thirty years, Asgeir." David then realized it when he got a closer look at me. "If you only just got here, how are you still that young? Time doesn't move here so we're safe, but you...?"

I still looked to be 26, the age I was when Anna and I set off to the Enchanted Forest.

I shook my head with sorrow. "That curse inflicted on me affected more than my vulnerability: I can't even physically age. I should be 56, but I'm still the same age on the outside. So many people wish for immortality, but they would change their minds if they went through what I did. Both before and after the Dark Curse."

"So whatever you were cursed by affected you here just as it did in the Enchanted Forest. How the hell did you escape the Dark Curse?"

"How does anyone escape that Curse? A magic bean. I had a couple left with me, so I was sent by my mentors to continue our war in the Land Without Magic since I was one of the only remaining Assassins who carried the beans."

This was a lie. While I carried the beans all the time, I wasn't chosen for the lack of beans, but rather chosen for my services to the Brotherhood. They would not lose one of their best fighters for 28 years. Ironic that they would only have him for 23 of those years.

* * *

"...and the next thing we knew we were back here like it was any other day. So we reckon whoever is controlling that winged creature is who sent us back here in the first place."

"So you seriously don't remember anything out of the last year?"

"Not a one. It was clear that a year had passed because Snow's pregnant."

"How bout that... You've been busy." I muttered. "And where are my brothers, Robin?"

"You'll find them at the pub off Main Street. A guy named Matthew told us he was a friend of yours." He said. "But first things first. We gotta find..."

David suddenly bent down and picked up a leaf. Covered in blood.

"Guys!" He called.

Robin noticed the blood and started following a trail while I focused my Sight. It still hurt, but that pain was one I had to get used to over time. I could see the trail of blood that David couldn't.

"He was dragged." Said Robin, pointing. He must have also been using his Sight.

I saw a ghost of Little John and the monkey pulling him through the woods. Not as it was happening, but rather seeing them as they had unfolded.

"He's there!"

Robin noticed his brother lying on the ground twenty feet away. I knelt down beside him, noticing a massive gash on his shoulder. It looked like he was bitten.

"Is he alive?" Said Hook.

"Yeah, barely." I said.

"John, I'm here!" Said Robin. "We got you!"

"I've never seen a bite like that before." The pirate said with concern.

"Yeah, me neither." Said David, helping us get John up.

I had. Long ago. And now it was too late for John.

"We've gotta get him some help." Said Robin."

After David called the ambulance, I was in the middle of a convoy towards the town. David's truck, my own with Friar Tuck in the shotgun among my stuff, and the Merry Men in a large van with the ambulance at the front. The town came into view as we cleared the woods. Nestled between steep seaside hills on the Atlantic, there it lay as we passed the sign: Welcome to Storybrooke.

* * *

The hospital was around the corner from a pawn shop on Main Street, beside the woods. The ambulance pulled up quickly as I parked my truck. I jumped out and the paramedics started unloading Little John from the ambulance on his stretcher. We hurried down the hallways, the nurses, and who appeared to be Dr. Frankenstein started examining him.

"BPs dropping fast!"

"What did this to him?" Asked the doctor.

"We don't know." Said David.

Little John started shaking rapidly, apparently having a seizure. But I could only watch with dread. I had seen this before, a lifetime ago. There was only one thing I could do, that any of us could do, but I was the only one who knew it.

"He's going into shock!" Cried one of the nurses.

"We need to sedate him." Said Frankenstein. He called over the nurse what he needed. Robin and his brothers started holding down Little John, hoping that they could save him.

"Asgeir!" Called Alan. "A lil' help here, would ya kindly!"

I jumped over and held John down, but I wished I didn't have to see what was happening. John screamed loudly as a tail appeared between his legs, and his voice became much less human. He thrashed so hard, he knocked me to the floor, and Frankenstein jumped back.

"John!" Cried Robin.

His closest brother at arms kept screaming, each second changing him more and more. Several nurses and other Merry Men tried to hold him down, but the tail smacked them aside, knocking over shelves and scattering various hospital items. Eventually everyone in the room was either on the floor, or taking cover.

"John!" Robin cried again.

But John was gone. He had completely turned into a flying monkey.

"Holy shite..." I muttered.

"Okay! I didn't see that coming!" Said David.

The monkey that was John shrieked loudly before it flapped it's wings and burst through the window.

"What the hell was that?" Said David.

"Don't look at me." Said Frankenstein. "I'm a doctor, not a vet."

* * *

I took out my lighter and leaned against the wall as I lit a cigarette. Yet another sign of my fall from grace, I could only accept the fact that I wasn't the person I once was with every drag I took. But I had turned to things a lot worse than smoking.

David walked over as I puffed away. "How is it that you knew to come here, Asgeir?" He asked.

"I said I was answering a call for help." I replied, pulling the roll of death from between my teeth. "My brothers here said that there was an unknown threat here when they contacted me. I was as clueless as you are until I saw what I saw back there. I saw a flying monkey back there. And if we're dealing with flying monkeys, then there's only one person this threat is."

David knowingly raised an eyebrow. "And you faced this Witch before?"

"Something like that. The mission was to kill her, but I thought that I could help her instead. But the wrong people got to her, first."

"Templars?"

"Not even in the slightest."

"Alright. Let's get going. Emma should have an idea of what's going on now. Hopefully."

Hook, David and I arrived at a nice flat just off Main Street. As we were going up the stairs to the flat, I got a text.

"Heard u were back. Walk towards the cannery, past the library, and take a right past it. Avoid the store Any Given Sundae. Do not go in there, or linger there. u'll know where we r when u see the pub.

M."

It was Matthew. The Assassins must have been hiding in that pub today, because this was my first contact with them since I got here. David opened the door and we walked in. Snow was there with Emma, sporting a very progressed baby bump, and a boy playing what looked like a portable game player was on the couch, sucked in his game. Regina stood off to the side. When she noticed me, there was a brief flash as though she might try once again to burn me alive. But she held her ground, as did I.

"We need to talk." David said to Emma.

Emma glanced at the boy, then beckoned. "Outside."

We went out into the hallway, and Regina spoke up.

"What is he doing here?" She pointed to me.

"Easy, Queenie Templar." I said. "We got bigger problems right now."

Snow was amazed I was here. "Nice to have another friend here among this chaos, Asgeir."

"Yeah, you too Snow."

We filled Snow, Emma and Regina on what had transpired at the hospital.

"They're being turned into flying monkeys?!" Snow cried out, quietly.

"Yes." Said Hook. "He took on a simian form with the added bonus of wings."

Snow cringed with worry. "Do you think that's what happened to the missing dwarves?"

David nodded. "It would explain why we haven't found any trace of them."

"And Neil?" Asked Emma.

"No sign of him, either. So yeah, it's possible." Said David.

"Wouldn't be the first flying monkey I dated."

Snow gaped at Emma. When she said the name Neil, I could only think of one person.

"Wait! Neil's here? Neil Cassidy?" I asked. "Why?"

Emma glanced at me. "You know him?"

"Know him? I taught him how to live here in this world. I'm how he got off Neverland in the first place." I waved at an imaginary fly as I disregarded this. "Long story."

Regina piped up. "The person who escaped our trap, disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. And now there are flying monkeys in this town?"

"That's right." I said. "It's clear now who we're dealing with."

"Who, The Wicked Witch of the West?" Emma said, sarcastically.

I glanced at her, my expression giving an affirmative.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? She's real, too?"

"Says the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming." Said Hook.

"Yeah, she's real. Had my face-off with that woman back in the day." I said.

"I don't get it." Said Emma. "It's not like we're in Kansas. Why would the Wicked Witch of the West wanna come to Storybrooke?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "I got my theories. But I need to report back to my brothers first."

"Wait, who were you in the Enchanted Forest?" Asked Emma.

"I was an ally of Snow and David's against Regina. I was tasked by my brotherhood to kill her." I nodded to Regina.

"And what? You came here to finish the job?" Snarked Regina.

"No. But I'm considering it. Whatever I see right now between you and those I trust here, I'm not buying yet. I see what's going on, Your Majesty." I spat. "People I trust here trust you. But I can't go to your side just yet. I trusted people once before, and they stabbed me in the back just for that. I won't make that mistake twice. But regardless, we have a common enemy right now. I can let it slide as much as it can for now."

"You still didn't really answer my question, Asgeir." Said Emma. "What are you, some kind of thief?"

"Assassin." I replied. "Part of a group dedicated to ensure freedom for humanity. Regina is a sworn member of the Templar Order, which still exists even today from the Crusades. I spent thirty years under a curse of immortality in this Land. Earlier today I was in British Columbia's Interior when I was contacted by my brothers at arms. They said there was some kind of threat looming here, and I came to help them finish it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to them."

I heard Emma mutter something as I headed down the stairs. "Asgeir...I read that name before."

* * *

Following Matthew's instructions, I walked down the street past Any Given Sundae. I angrily realized that this was where the bitch was hiding. The windows were dark with a sign in the window saying "closed".

I kept walking until I passed the library, and turned right at the cannery. The pub stood about three stories high, and looked to be one of those pub/inn mix buildings, because it was too big to be just the one. And by the looks of it, it was an Irish pub. Although as I got closer, I noticed the sign that showed the name of the pub, and it made me cringe.

The wooden carved sign above the door had a four leaf clover in it's center, but instead of green, was a deep shade of blood red. From my distance, it made the clover look too much like the Templar cross. The Celtic designs surrounding it made it look even more Irish. But it was that damned name: "Cormac's"

The sign in the window also said "Closed". I assumed they were expecting me, and ignored the sign as I opened the door. A bell above the door rang loudly. Some patron who I didn't recognize sat passed out at the bar table, and an Assassin who I remembered from Arendelle, though not his name, stood cleaning glasses.

"Sign says closed." He said, not looking up.

"Screw off." I replied. "Matthew sent for me."

The bartender looked up, then gasped. "You've returned! Asgeir!" He said.

"Yeah." I replied. "I have."

"Asgeir?"

I glanced at the rear of the bar. A hallway to what might have been the inn rooms was at the back, and it was filled by the few friends I had left that I missed dearly. Matthew, Jason, and Zar.

Salazar was a recruit who spent almost all of his life outside Arendelle, jumping the realms, but rushed to our aid when we were called to the Enchanted Forest to fight Regina. Most of us just called him "Zar" as he insisted. He felt Salazar sounded too "evil", and "Sal" sounded too much like a 1930s gangster. He had brownish skin and short black hair. Most of the time he went under Hispanic names as aliases in this world.

My three brothers embraced me as I walked in. Matthew was a little shook off by the state of me. I hadn't taken a shower in days, so some of the pine needles were still stuck in my hair from the Interior. My stubble had grown significantly, as well as my hair. Life as a hermit didn't help my image.

"Good to see you again, brother."

I nodded as Matthew beckoned me to join them. We turned left halfway down the hallway to the rooms and walked into a large room. A massive conference table lay at the center with other men in white hoodies around it. They whooped and hollered, slamming their hands on the table as I took my seat at Matthew's left side.

"It's been far, far, far too long, brother." He said as we sat down.

Jason sat across from me to Matthew's right, and Zar was beside him. Matthew, who sat at the head, looked a little confused as he glanced at me.

"What is this?" He gestured to his face. "You trying a new look? Billy told us you were away on that mission for a long time, but how long was it?"

That son of a bitch. Couldn't even own up and lied to his own brothers to cover for his sorry arse. "Years, Matthew." I replied. "What do you know from William Miles?"

"Bill said that you had been away for a long time on business and that it was hard to contact you. We told him that it was urgent that you come here when the Curse was broken almost two years ago, but he said he couldn't find you. And then when I had to practically beg him to find you, with none of us remembering the last year, you're here less than a day after I called."

"He caught me at the right time." I replied.

"Well." Said Matthew. "Beyond happy that you could make it. Now, onto business. Jason. What do our field members have on the missing individuals?"

"Nothing aside from another brother disappearing. Little John of the Merry Men got snatched earlier today, and he hasn't been heard from since. That brings our total of missing brothers up to five. And that includes Keaton."

Keaton Alden, the Enchanted Forest Mentor. Of course he would have been a target if the Assassins were involved with this. Zelena had less than pleasant feelings about us, though not nearly as much as her loving sister.

I heard several groans of anger on the total of missing brothers. I spoke up. "We found John." I said. "But let's just say he's not as focused on the Creed as much as he is on bananas."

"What?" Said Zar.

"He's turned into a flying monkey." I said. "And with that, I think it's clear who we're dealing with."

Matthew nodded, smirking. "Zelena. At least we have that to our advantage. Asgeir, you fought her before. What can we expect?"

"If Zelena is here, then she must have found what she needed against Regina. I'd say we confront and kill her right now since the rest of the town has no idea who they're looking for."

"Easy, Asgeir." Said Matthew. "You're on the right track, but we can't just kill someone who the town thinks is one of their own right now. So far none of us have seen someone with green skin, so naturally it means she's hiding among us. Even we run the risk of getting turned on every time one of us goes out of the pub."

"Yeah, why is this place called 'Cormac's'?" I snapped. I always hated Shay, but what I learned about him in the last few years made things worse. I didn't find the pages that were torn out of his books, but I found the information contained within them.

"Regina. She shaped this town to be as she pleased when the first Curse was here. You're looking at the front of an ongoing illegal arms dealing ring, Asgeir.

Apparently founded by the bastard himself, Shay Cormac, he opened this place as a gathering spot for Irishmen like himself, as well as a glorified meeting spot for him and his Templar shites. But one of us took it over fifty years ago, and here we are. Here in Storybrooke, we were outcasts from the town, loathed for the fact that we sold and shipped guns to people around New England and Europe. Everyone knew we shipped the guns, but no one could prove it. Sheriff Graham, rest his soul, tried many times to shut us down, but couldn't gather enough evidence. Every time he got close enough, one of us would sabotage his efforts."

"So this is what we've been reduced to?" I said. "Low life criminal scum selling guns for a living?"

"Asgeir, the world always looked at us like we were low life scum." Said Zar. "The difference now is that the Templars aren't around that much to push us around. Look here."

Zar stood up and walked over to a blackboard on the far side of the room. He flipped it over. On that side, there was a massive board of names and photos of known enemies and Templars, all connected in a spider web of string. Some of the photos were X'd out. It was who was X'd out that surprised me. Cora, Pan, and several of Regina's generals of the black knights. All dead. Without me to be watch them die with glee.

"What about Regina? George?"

"Regina has already proven to us indirectly that she has no wish to continue her ways of the Templars. She's no longer a threat."

"So you really trust her?"

"Yes." Said Matthew. "Just not enough that we can leave this place and start kicking down doors to find Zelena or Ingrid. She may still be looking to bury us."

"And George?"

"He's been spending the months since he disappeared trying desperately to round up allies and find new followers in the few nobles left throughout the town. No idea what he has been doing in the missing year. Until the time is right, we won't kill him. But when it comes, Asgeir, I want you to pull the trigger on that."

I grinned. "It would be an honor."

"Good." Said Matthew. "Now, recap. Asgeir has returned from his mission by William Miles, and we have one of our best back in the fight. We gather what we can on Zelena and report back in a week. Adjourned."

Matthew slammed a gavel onto the table. Jason and Zar walked over as the rest of the Assassins walked out.

"Where's your truck?" Said Zar. "I can park it here."

I tossed the keys to him. "Hospital."

Zar nodded, and went off.

Jason beckoned for me and we headed down the hall to the inn's rooms.

"Most of us either have our own places here in Storybrooke, but there have been a few of us who have rooms here."

"So no one in town trusts us?"

"Not really." Replied Jason. "Snow and David know us through you, but people like the dwarves and fairies don't like us."

I scoffed. "As far as I'm concerned, Blue and Grumpy can go screw off. Bunch of stuck up arseholes think they're better than us."

"Yeah, they think the same of us. Here we are."

The hallway ended at a big entrance hall for the rooms. It was almost built like a prison cell block by the way the hall was arranged. All the rooms on 3 floors were all arranged in a big square circle with a long balcony circling around the room on both floors above the ground. The center ceiling carried a massive chandelier. There was a staircase on two opposite corners of the hall that led up to the top two floors. Jason led me up to the second floor, took a right, then stopped at a room in the center of the long side.

"Here's your room." He said, handing me the keys. "Get some rest, Asgeir. If you're up early enough, I'll show you the underground."

"Underground?"

"You think an arms dealing ring carries their weapons stockpile in the inn itself? Regina wasn't able to get rid of any of our weapons or gadgets when she cursed us the first time. All she could do was hide them in the Bunker."

"So how does that work?"

"When we were cursed, we had no idea of the hidden room within the hidden room. There's a basement area where we stockpiled the weapons, and beneath that room is the Bunker where Regina hid all of our Assassin vault items. The books, beans, and weapons. Everything we wanted to protect from the Curse we did, but we couldn't find them until after the Curse was broken. There's a hidden staircase in the kitchens that leads down to the Bunker, where we carry out our operations. Like the Tiber Island Hideout Ezio ran."

"Excellent." I said. I unlocked the door and walked in. Basic enough for an inn. Bed, bathroom, window facing the town from the inn, and a clunky tv from the 80s.

"Retro." I said.

Jason smirked. "Yeah. It was '83 when we got sent here. Time's never really moved here. If you want breakfast, Kevan's serving at 8:00."

"Great." I replied. "I'll be up."

Jason nodded, then embraced me, slapping my back in a brotherly hug. "Good to see you again, Asgeir."

I smirked. "Too long." I agreed.

Jason left as I fell into the bed. None of the Assassins here had any idea that I was stripped of my hood seven years ago because that bastard William Miles lied to them all. Made them all think I was safe when he had left me behind to fend for myself. And now Zelena was in town for god knew what. I hated both fiends that made this town their home now, but if I could choose, Zelena would be easier to handle. She was the opposite of Ingrid in some ways. All that she cared for was easily her weakness. Taunting her made her reckless, and careless, making her easy to beat. Once I believed she could be a good ally, but then she proved to me that she was only jealous. That was her only motivation in life. But Ingrid. Ingrid was just insane.

I often laughed at how similar I was to Zelena, right down to the color green. I too had been left behind as an infant, taken in by others who shared no blood of mine. But I learned that what Elsa and Anna were blessed with, royalty and grace, I didn't want or need. The life of an Assassin was the life I was destined for, and I would never change that.

* * *

**A/N: So there you have it. Asgeir has not arrived at the beginning of season 4, but still an appropriate time. It was by a pure coincidence that Zelena and Asgeir turned out to be very similar in their beginnings. But hopefully you like Asgeir more than Greenie. (She has the crazy eyes!)**

**I've just recently put together a timeline of all the events in the enchanted forest that only includes events that Asgeir was involve with. However, with the flashbacks so out of order on the show, I don't know where to start for the flashbacks showing Asgeir's slow decent into losing his hood. Some ideas of where to start include when Asgier met David after George took him in, when Asgeir was tasked of killing a certain werewolf not long after Ingrid froze Arendelle, and when Asgeir and Blue developed a bitter hate for each other. Please tell me what you would want to see Asgeir a part of for the first chapter in the new set of flashbacks.**

**Zar is a reference to an opinion of mine. In everything I've seen in movies and video games, if someone is named Salazar, then they're either evil, or will betray someone. Zar will not do this, and prove to be just as good an ally as any with Asgeir as the approaching storm against Ingrid approaches. I just noticed that there are too many evil Salazars in my experience, so I wanted to make a good guy Salazar.**

**I'm picturing Matthew and Jason also based off of awesome Game of Thrones actors. Matthew is fairly older than Asgeir, but there is someone from GoT that I picture him to be like: Bronn. And Jason I pictured to be based off Robb.**


	13. Chapter 13: A Hood Red as Blood

**A/N: I can easily tell that some people like this a lot because I got several reviews asking me to update only days after the new chapter came out. I can only work as fast as I can, and I also don't want to pump out short, meaningless chapters that I half-assed. I want to give a good chapter with a great way on interconnecting my own character to the story. This chapter took two weeks to post because it's the longest I ever wrote.**

**The last review said that they hope there will be a chapter showing how Hook and Edward met. That will come, I promise you. But not for a while.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Past- A Hood Red as Blood

_"I see a Bad Moon Rising/ I see trouble on the way/ I see earthquakes and lightning/ I see bad times today/ Don't go around tonight/ It's just bound to take your life/ There's a Bad Moon on the rise."_

* * *

The days became longer and colder. Too cold for me. It wasn't that I hated the cold, but rather it hurt me now. To be forced into an element that my own half-sister was queen of, and keep remembering that she died because I failed to act.

When the maester examined me with my frozen heart, he said that I shouldn't have had one because I wasn't cold to the touch, nor my hair turning white. After a week at the bell tower, it was clear that whatever Ingrid hit me with, the Spell of Shattered Sight, or the ice in my heart, wasn't killing me. So I returned to my work with the Assassins.

After a month, the Arendelle branch of the Assassins dissolved into a Nomad branch. Felix said that there was no way that he could help us with the little resources left for this division. So many times this had happened, where our homes were destroyed or taken over by Templars, and we were forced to go into hiding once again. Matthew said that until we found a branch that we could stay with as long as we needed, we would be forced to go at it on our own. We would still see some of ourselves, but most of us would be on our own for a while.

It was a hard three months after Ingrid froze Arendelle. I spent so much time jumping between realms, looking for the beast that killed my family, often jumping back to the Enchanted Forest. The Land Without Magic was becoming more and more dangerous with Abstergo on the hunt for the biggest Assassin thorns in their side like me. So I stayed in the Enchanted Forest, because despite the fact that both Queen Regina and King George's combined forces were tearing apart entire regions to find me, it was the safest place I had left.

Winter was coming, and with it, hunger. I was forced to steal from hard working peasants from their crops and livestock. It felt so wrong, but I often hoped that Robin wouldn't see anything wrong with it. I was poor, and some were richer than I was. As winter started approaching it's peak in this land, I knew I would have to suspend the hunt for Ingrid until I had a better plan. So I went south from the Enchanted Forest, and found something that brought me to a job. A mission that would bring my first step into a different kind of war.

* * *

I was heading south, but it would still be a long way before the snow disappeared. The inn I ended up at was a front for a small branch of the Assassins of the Enchanted Forest. When the innkeeper noticed my hood, he slipped me a note.

"Heard of your deeds, Reaper. Got a job lined up that we need your skills for."

I went into the back, where they pointed me into the underground pit. Inside carried the hideout of these Assassins. Nomads were common here, as I saw a few known roamers. People from ruined kingdoms, or far from their homes. The Master, Lawrence, pointed me to the board, where I saw the job pinned up.

It was a top priority, high difficulty job, requesting that only a true Master Assassin take it. This is what it read:

"_Wolfstime is approaching for the settlement of Silverforks. The wolf that roams this town has killed enough souls that could rival even the best Assassins, except those lives include innocents. They have requested as much help as they need, and that includes the bravest out there. To any Assassin that wishes to stop another town from falling to these beasts, see Lawrence here_."

The gold reward was noted below. I couldn't believe that an Assassin was paying that kind of coin for this. I would be _rich!_

Lawrence was a brave Assassin who once faced down and killed a clan of vampires in the Land Without Color. But even he would not dare to take this mission.

"It's suicide." He said. "We lost three of our brothers to this beast, and now you want to die, too?"

I put my hands down on the desk between us. "Too much blood has been shed by monsters like this one for me to turn my back. I let one animal go, so I'm not letting this one live to see another full moon."

Lawrence sighed, then got up. "Weapons. Give them here." He said. "If you're going to take this job, then you'll need a restock."

I pulled most of my weapons off, and Lawrence fetched a large trunk for me. He took some of the ones I gave him and placed them off to the side. What remained were my Rope Blades, my flintlocks, and my air rifle. As well as Pick, but I would kill the first fool who would try to take it from me. It was almost all I had left of Anna.

"The air rifle I'll supply you with the right ammunition. All the rest you'll need to adapt for."

Lawrence placed new weapons on the table to replace the other ones.

"The hardest part about these wolves is the silver. There's almost not enough for us to go around. But this should suffice."

"Standard Assassin crossbow, small enough to sheathe on your shoulder, and includes two dozen silver tipped bolts."

Lawrence brought out two new cutlasses and a dagger, both coated in silver, and a full stock of silver bullets and tipped darts for the air rifle.

"I faced down wolves before, Asgeir." He said. "But nothing like this. If you make if back alive, bring me some kind of proof of it's death. A claw, or it's head. Something like that."

"Aye. Any advice before I head up there?"

"Yeah. If if finds you, pray it makes it quick."

* * *

It was a week to Wolfstime when I left for the town. I trekked most of the way on foot through the slashing cold, and after most of the way was covered, decided I would seek passage the rest of the way. Spent some of what little gold I had left, and got into a carriage with a few other peasants. The closer I went north to this town, the less people felt chatty about what was going on. I almost knew that the wolf would kill me, but I don't think I cared. I would take it with me, and be reunited with my sisters.

When you walk into another town for the first time, what's the first thing you notice? Maybe there's an inn that looks nice, or the people around have this sort of pride about where they live. Does it have a landmark, or a sign that welcomes you?

What I noticed about the town was it's size. It wasn't small at all. Much bigger than I expected. And there were a lot less people that such a town's size would compensate for. For a town of the exact same size, there were about a third of what there would normally be. This wolf wasn't just killing people, but almost running the people down into the dark cave of extinction. People glanced at me, but either they would give me one look, or nothing.

One man sat on his porch, slowly sharpening his pitchfork. He looked up at me when I approached.

"What you want, boy?" He said. His voice was like that of the worst kind of gravelly sore throat.

"I've been traveling a long time. Is there an inn nearby where I can stay?"

"Innkeepers were torn apart three moons ago, stranger. Talk to Widow Lucas."

"And where can I find this Widow Lucas?"

* * *

The small cottage lay outside the broken town, in the middle of the woods. I walked up, pulling my hood down a little over my head. The knocker on the door was missing a screw, and hung on the lone remainder on a crooked angle. So I knocked on the door directly instead, so as not to make the knocker fall off. Three times, then after two seconds, another three times.

"I'm coming! Keep your shirt on!" Came a loud gruff voice behind the door.

A small, but intimidating old woman opened the door a crack. She had her gray hair tied up in a bun behind her head, and small spectacles that seemed to make her even more fierce looking.

"Yes?" She said, almost angrily.

I cleared my throat. "Are you the Widow Lucas?" I asked, quietly.

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Connor." I said. "Connor Kenway. I've come a long way from the south, and was hoping there would be a place to stay for the night."

"And so you came knocking at my door, hoping I would offer you shelter? Get your head out of the snow, boy! It's the first night of Wolfstime! You really shouldn't be here!"

"I'm well aware of what time of the month it is, Widow Lucas. That's why I'm here."

Widow Lucas narrowed her eyes at me. "Now you listen here, boy. Whatever you're getting paid for this, it's not worth your life! You need to turn back and get the hell out of here. You're going to lose too much if you don't."

"Granny?"

Widow Lucas turned and waved off someone behind her. "Go to your room, Red! This doesn't concern you!"

"Who is it?"

"Just a stupid boy trying to get himself killed, hoping we'll let him stay for the Wolfstime!"

I cleared my throat again. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Widow Lucas. I've just been traveling a long time, and I'm hoping I could at least have a roof over my head. I can sleep in your barn if it's not too much trouble."

Thinking of sleeping in the barn reminded me of Anna and David. I often wondered how David's life had turned out after we took down Bo Peep. The Templars around that area must have been running scared after their mistress fell by my blade. As far as I knew, her leg would never work properly again. She used a crutch now instead of a crook.

"Granny, he's tired. Can't we at least let him stay for the night?" Said the girl behind her.

Widow Lucas seemed to drift off, angrily shaking her head as she looked at the wall beside the door. Then she looked at me.

"One night." She said, opening the door.

I stepped in, the warmth of a fire washing over me. As I lowered my hood, I was greeted by the girl who I realized was the widow's granddaughter.

She was a pretty girl around Anna's age, with dark hair, green eyes, and pale skin. She wore a red cloak with a hood like mine, but it was lowered onto her shoulders at the moment. She smiled as we sat down at the fire.

"Everyone calls me Red." She said.

Of course. Little Red Riding Hood. That made sense. I bowed my head. "Connor Kenway, Red." I replied.

Granny eyed me suspiciously as we sat down by the fire. "So you've come to hunt this wolf down, Connor?"

Red excitedly looked at me as I spoke. "Yes. I belong to a guild of hunters. They tasked me with this job to help the people here. If this wolf isn't dealt with soon, a lot more than just this town is going to suffer."

"And I assume you're joining the mobs to hunt this beast down."

"I'm a lone hunter, Widow Lucas. Anyone I join with will only get in my way."

"Admirable, but foolish." She replied. "You're going to get yourself killed if you try to hunt this wolf down. Wolf's killed dozens of men in the last five moons. Please listen to my advice and leave."

"I'm sorry, Widow Lucas-"

"Oh, stop it with the name." She scoffed. "If you're going to stay here for the night, call me Granny."

My Granny. What a big temper you have! "Alright. I'm sorry, Granny. But I don't have much left to lose aside from my life. In the past months I've lost enough that would drive anyone down the path to the reaper. My home, my family, everything. Can't take something from a man with nothing really left to lose."

Granny looked at the pot by the fire, then got some bowls for us. Supper. It was a thick stew that was better than something an average peasant could scrape together with what little money they had. This woman proved one cliche was true: Grandmothers could cook very well.

"Many thanks." I said, holding up my bowl after Granny gave it to me.

Red was excited by the circumstances that I was here. "So you're going to hunt this wolf down?"

"Red..." Granny had a strange tone in her voice.

This woman almost seemed to not want me to hunt down the wolf. Like she was protecting it, or something. I was suspicious, but I avoided it, and answered Red's question.

"I'm not going to hunt the wolf. I'm going to end the wolf."

* * *

That night I got ready. Pulling back the bowstring of my crossbow, I loaded up a silver tipped arrow, and both my flintlocks and air rifle were loaded as well with the new ammunition.

I got up from my chair. Granny sat at another chair in front of the door with a much larger crossbow aimed at the door. She glanced up at me as I started for the door.

"Last chance to turn back, boy." She gruffed.

I ignored her, and after taking the bars off, and unlocking the door, set off into the night.

The wind was shredding at my face as I pulled my white hood up. I stopped for a second to consider where to go first to track the wolf, but figured that I should go into the woods, and just walk around before I would start tracking it.

So, with a plan in place, I sheathed my crossbow and trudged on.

After about an hour of trudging through the snow, I started seeing the telltale signs. First came the pawprints. I remembered how the biggest wolf I hunted moved about one to two feet every stride. I had to walk quite a bit before I got to the next stride when I found the prints.

Then I saw the clawmarks. The marks were almost six feet long in one swipe. I was astounded. The biggest bear I ever tracked once had claw marked that measured not even three feet.

"Gods be good, how big is this thing?" I muttered.

"*_aroooo_*"

I perked up like a deer in headlights. That howl sounded way too close and loud for my own comfort. I almost felt like I couldn't move. I wanted to bury myself in the snow, but instead, I climbed up into the trees. Unsheathing my crossbow, I carefully started through the trees. It made me feel safer, but as I jumped down from one branch to a lower one, I realized the only way I could track the beast was to stay on the ground.

I examined every foot around me I could, hoping the wolf wouldn't catch me with my pants down. I picked up the trail again a while afterwards, from the source of some teeth marks on the tree. I started following the trail again, this time making sure I wasn't so spooked by the occasional howl. I heard a few, but nothing that didn't sound close enough that it would take a good jaw clamp around my arm.

Dawn was approaching as I found the biggest piece of evidence the wolf was there. As I heard one last howl, I fell to my knees. I was kneeling right in the blood soaked snow of what used to be a sheep pen.

The owners came out soon enough, the wife screaming loudly, and the husband running over to me to ask me what I saw.

I could only say "It was the wolf" before passing out.

* * *

The owners of the place sent me back to Granny's after I woke up. Granny could only shake her head with disgust at me, insisting that she had told me how dangerous this monster was. I left not long afterwards, snow starting to fall. It was dark and cold. There was something about feeling the snow blow into my face as I walked out of the cottage that made me start to cry a little.

"Elsa..." I sniffed. I was one of the most deadly Arendelle Assassins who ever lived, and I was crying like I was only a child. Eventually I pulled myself together and headed for town.

The people around town were furious over the loss of the sheep that night. The women were frightened, and the men were downright pissed. I went off to the woods to see if I could pick up on the trail again, and maybe find something to eat.

It was clear to me that everyone had lost someone or something to the wolf. One farmer was just leaving town that day when I found out that the wolf had eaten all of his livestock the last Wolfstime, and now he had nothing left on his farm. He was moving south to start anew.

"There are still those here who think they can match themselves against this monster. They'll all be dead tomorrow night."

Common knowledge among Assassins. Wolftime lasted three nights a month, with the exact full moon in between the first and last night. After the third night, the position of the moon would prevent enough moonlight to reflect on the wolf, and it would turn back into a human.

The clouds started parting as dusk settled, and then the town went aglow with two opposing lights: torches and the moon.

A mob was gathering in front of Granny's house when I came back with my dinner: Two ducks that forgot to fly south. As I opened the large barn door to start my cook fire, I thought I noticed something move by.

It was a shadow by the cottage. I strained to look, but it appeared to be a man. One that was walking from Red's window and carefully avoiding the mob. I would have thought it was the wolf, but a quick look up into the sky proved to me that whoever it was, was not the wolf. Otherwise he would have been on all fours with fur on his body.

I held my hands in front of the cook fire to get warm as the ducks roasted above the fire. I had it in the barn, but I saw nothing wrong as long as I could put it out fast enough if it spread. I knew how to control my fire.

"Mmph!"

I jumped up in a blur and drew my crossbow. "Who's there?!" I whispered to the voice. "I know you're there!"

I focused, feeling my Sight kick in. I winced with pain. Ever since Ingrid slashed me across my eyes, my Sight never worked properly again. By that I mean I would get infernos of headaches if I tried using it.

I heard the whispers guide me through the barn. Whoever was inside was good at hiding. After ten minutes of walking around the barn, looking for the stalker, I sat back down in front of the fire.

"If you're hungry, I've extra." I said. "And if you have a death wish, I'm armed to the teeth."

I heard rustling, and the stalker sat across the fire from me.

"Please don't hurt me." She said. She had long black hair, almost as black as my own, and blue eyes. She wore a white flowered cloak over her head, though clearly not as an Assassin; She was hiding from someone.

I smiled a little to reassure her. "You looking for shelter from the snow?"

"Yes, and there's something out there!" She whimpered. "You're not going to kick me out of here, are you? To that monster out there?!"

I shook my head. "It's not even my barn. I've come here to kill the wolf."

"You mean that's a wolf?!" She gasped. "That thing?!"

"You saw it?" I said.

"It's huge!" She said, almost too loudly for my comfort. Any louder and the wolf would have been on us in ten seconds. "I don't know how you plan on killing it, but I doubt a crossbow is going to take it down."

I nodded. "I've got my ways." I looked down at the ducks on the spit, then pulled them off, setting them on the rock I had beside me. I held it out to the woman.

"Thank you." She said.

I bowed my head. "Don't make too much noise. The wolf could hear us."

"Don't tell me you're going back out there!"

"I've come here to put down a wild animal, and that's exactly what I aim to do."

I started for the door, but the woman called over for me.

"Can't I at least know your name in case the wolf kills you?"

I smirked. "When I make it back here tomorrow, I'll tell you mine, as you will tell me yours."

* * *

Another sleepless night came as I hunted for the wolf. This time I used not only it's claw marks on the trees, and it's pawprints in the snow, but every once in a while used the sound of it's howl to follow it.

As I checked each mark it left behind, I started to notice a pattern. Not only in what directions it would take, but then came the pattern that made me shudder. I was at the exact spot that I started tracking at, and that could only mean one thing: the wolf was following me. I was now it's prey.

I would have climbed up into the trees, but this time I wasn't as afraid as I once was. I drew my crossbow and started backtracking.

"Here, doggie." I whistled. "Here, you big bloody bitch."

I took each step slowly and carefully, hoping that I was facing the wolf, and it wasn't behind me. I kept walking until I found new prints. They told me that the wolf had seen me turn around, but rather than face me down and rip me apart, it also turned around and padded off.

It had quite a distance on me, and I missed my chance to find the wolf again. Because the sun started to rise by the time I found the wolf's latest kill.

It was the mob from last night. Most of the poor souls that stood right at Granny's doorway last night now lay in the snow among their blood and pitchforks. I saw one guy's head impaled on the brow by his own pitchfork. When I focused my Sight, I could see the wolf tearing them all apart. Some of them put up a fight, jabbing the wolf with their weapons, but none of them could take it down.

It was so sickening, even with all I had seen in my life, that I could barely hear what Red or the flower hooded woman were saying when they approached from the well. Red must have found the girl in the barn. They stood behind me in front of the well in horror at the sight of all the mangled corpses. I turned my head towards them.

"I told you I would make it until morning." I muttered to the woman nervously, upset that I couldn't say the same for the ones that lay before me in the reddening snow.

* * *

The townspeople gathered later at the largest hall in the town, outraged at the massacres of sheep and men. The town's apparent "leader", who was one of the few survivors of last night, a man by the name of Benjamin, stood at the front of the hall as the townspeople shouted.

"The one thing I know, is that last night was the very last massacre!"

I stood off to the side as men and women shouted in agreement, several holding up more pitchforks and other "angry mob" weapons.

"If I had stayed in that party for another ten minutes, I too would be among the dead!" Stated Benjamin. "And when I think if I'd only doubled back, maybe I could've caught it in the act. _Maybe_, I would've been able to slay the creature!"

I watched as Red, Granny, and the woman walked in. The woman wore a cloth over her face, which clearly meant even more that she was indeed hiding from someone. A young boy sitting down towards the front of the mob turned and started staring at Red, smiling. She smiled back, but Granny noticed, and practically punched her. Another Romeo and Juliet story. Hadn't seen that in a long time.

"You would not!" Said Granny as she walked up towards the front.

Benjamin crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Widow Lucas."

"This creature is more powerful than you can imagine!" She said in such a tone that made even me feel smaller. I could tell this woman had seen things even I dare not want to know.

"You wouldn't have a chance." She continued. "Stay inside! Hide your children! Forget your livestock!"

Benjamin wasn't listening. "You said all this before!" He smirked.

Granny nodded. "But I didn't say _how_ I know." And she began her tale.

"Nearly three-score years ago, I was a child, with six older brothers. Big as oak trees, all of them. Veterans of the Second Ogres War. And my father, the biggest of them all!"

My own grandfather, legendary Assassin Mentor Norik Swortssen was a hero in that war. Killed dozens of ogres that openly supported the Templars. Many don't know that the Ogres Wars were secretly Templar plots. Every time they got too close to endangerment they'd set the ogres off and bring another spark to the building powder keg.

"Come one Wolfstime, he decided to take on the wolf. A different wolf back then, of course, but just as fearsome. They went out there to protect me. I was supposed to be asleep, but I crawled out on the roof to watch, and laid down in the thatch." Granny was becoming slightly distraught as she told the story. It was so painfully clear the fate that awaited reckless villagers wanting to get even with a monster that big. "They had the beast surrounded, the seven of them! With spears all pointed in at it! And then it started. It was lunging. Not at the men, at the spears. Grabbing with it's teeth, breaking the shafts! They stabbed it with the splintered ends, but it didn't matter. It tore their throats so fast, that not a one of them got a chance to scream, or pray," Granny swallowed deeply. "or say goodbye."

I glanced at Red, who looked close to tears, much like the woman beside her. Although I couldn't entirely tell since her face was covered.

"When my father died, I tumbled from the roof, and I landed in the blood, in front of the wolf. I felt it's breath on my face."

Granny started pulling back her sleeves. "And it clamped it's hot jaw around my arm, and I rolled away!" She showed a nasty set of scars. I counted a good six teeth marks, each like long swipes. She had tried to pull her arm away from the wolf, and that's why the marks were at a length. The other villagers, even Benjamin could only stare in shock and awe. I was the only one who was confused. A bite from a werewolf meant that they would become one. But I saw Granny with the crossbow after the moon rose. That meant the wolf had to be someone else.

"Then it looked at me with eyes so black they weren't even there, and walked away." She rolled back her sleeve. "You ever see a wild animal just turn it's back and walk away like you don't matter?!"

I was stunned. I was a hunter, but one thing I learned is that wild animals never wound what they couldn't or wouldn't kill. If it was a real wild animal that attacked Granny, it would have finished the job.

"If this wolf is like that one, there is no defeating it! It's already won by existing in our world! You don't kill it! You just hide!" She exclaimed.

* * *

After the meeting ended, Benjamin resumed in forming another mob for the night, refusing to listen to Granny's warnings. But I was certain that the volunteers he was able to gather then were a lot less than what he would have gotten if the town hadn't heard Granny's story. I don't know why, but the story only made me more sure of what I had to do. I had to kill this wolf, I had to do it quick, and I had only one more night left to do it. Otherwise this town was history.

I returned to the scene of the massacre, and started retracing the tracks of the wolf. It hadn't snowed hard that day so far, so the tracks were fresh enough that I could find it now. The bodies of the dead had been hauled away, but the blood remained, coagulating the snow into scarlet ice.

I kept going through the snow, crossbow drawn. The wolf was back to human form by now, but today I had the advantage. A trail of pawprints that would lead me right to it's den, and all the time in the world to follow them.

"Connor?"

I looked up as Red and the woman walked in. She had taken the bandanna off her mouth, and only watched nervously as I looked down and kept following the tracks.

"I don't think I caught your name, milady." I said to the woman, not looking up at her from my tracking.

"Mary." She replied. "It's not my real name, but-"

"You're hiding from someone." I replied. "I figured. And what are you two doing out here?"

"We're going to find the wolf, Connor." Said Red. "And kill it."

Red seemed confident to me, but there's confidence, and then there's stupidity.

"You can't be serious." I said.

Red put her hands on her hips. "Why not?"

"For one thing, you have any silver?"

"Excuse me?"

"If this is what I think we're dealing with here, this is the kind of wolf that is vulnerable to only one thing: silver."

I held up my dagger. Silver shined a lot brighter than most steel I had, and this was glinting brighter than ever in the snowy forest.

"Then what?" Asked Red. "I can track the wolf, can you?"

"What do you think I've been doing for the last few hours since your Granny freaked the whole bloody town? I've been looking for the culprit to whoever this wolf is before these dumb arses get themselves slashed."

"How do you even know that this wolf is a werewolf?" Asked Mary.

"I'll show you." I said stepping away from the tracks. "Just keep tracking it. I won't get in the way."

Red nodded, pulling the bow over her shoulder. I now saw that she had a quiver of arrows and a bow on her shoulder, but that appeared to be all she was carrying.

Mary pointed at a set of prints as we trekked on. "What about that?" She asked.

Red shook her head. "That's a dog. See how small that is?" She pointed where Mary needed to go. "Don't look where the snow's drifted, it covers tracks."

I followed behind without a word. Red thought she was so smart trying to kill this creature, but she didn't understand what it would mean. No one really knows the kind of darkness that goes into your heart when you kill something for the first time.

Mary pointed at another set of tracks. As she did, I focused my Sight, listening to the whispers guide me.

"Hey!" Said Mary. "Over here."

Red smirked. "That is a rabbit." She said.

As Mary moved on, Red explained what we were looking for. "What we're looking for will be huge. Like a dog print, but big. Like eight inches across, with big, long claws."

"Like these?" Mary breathed.

I looked down at the massive familiar prints that lay before us. "Bingo." I murmured.

Red nodded, although shakily. "Yes." She whispered. She looked further down the trail. "And those! Oh my gods, how big is this thing?"

I kneeled down in the snow, examining the prints. "That was one goddamn stride." I stated. And they knew I was right. "From here," I pointed at the print at my foot. "To there." I pointed at the one by the tree a little over twenty feet away.

Red wasn't giving up. "C'mon. Over there." She continued trudging through the snow with Mary and me following behind. "Through the brush and off towards the hill."

"You're good at this." Said Mary as we followed behind the girl in red.

"When there's something I want, I'm good at tracking it down."

Mary glanced at me as I followed behind. "You're good, too. What are you, a hunter?"

"Of a kind." I replied.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'll tell you what it means one day. But not today."

We continued down the trail. I didn't want to sound like I was the man protecting a damsel in distress, but ever since Arendelle froze, I wanted so hard to make sure there would be no more casualties from my affairs. I would have rather that Mary and Red stay behind and let me kill the wolf. Anyone would have gotten in my way, let alone someone as determined as Red.

"Here's another one!" Said Mary, pointing.

"Right. And then here's" Red stopped, and noticed the print ahead of the one we were at. It was different than the previous ones.

"This print, it looks like it's...half wolf and half boot!" She breathed.

"Wolves don't wear boots." Said Mary.

"No they do not." I agreed. "I do believe I found the proof I'm looking for: we're not dealing with any wolf."

"And it just continues like it was a man!" Whispered Mary. "What kind of monster is this?"

"There was a story I read once." Said Red. "Wolfstime is once a month. Is this really a werewolf?"

I was about to answer, when Mary noticed something.

"Aren't we awfully close to the cottage?"

Sure enough, the trail of prints that now looked like a man's went on through the woods, right towards the familiar hovel. To Red's window!

"Who's been at your window, Red?" I asked.

Red whimpered, unable to answer the question. I had my guess, but Mary said another idea.

"Is it Peter?"

Peter must have been the boy I saw eyeing Red. Eyeing her like a hungry wolf.

"Red?" I asked. "Has he been to your window?"

Red stared at me, a lump in her throat. "Last night. Before the killings." She said, her voice cracking, and her heart breaking. "And he never joined the guys to hunt the wolf."

Mary shook her head. "But I'm sure he never would have killed them."

"He wouldn't!" Snapped Red. "But when the wolf takes over..."

"What about tonight's hunting party?" I asked.

Red gasped. "They're going to kill him! Or he's going to kill them."

I was getting paid for this. It was a lot of gold to take the wolf to the next world. It could help me live for another year or so. But instead, I chose another path. Red truly loved this boy, and I swore an oath. I would stay my blade from the flesh of an innocent. And if Peter couldn't control the wolf, then what he was doing wasn't his fault.

Red seemed to read my mind. "Please don't kill him, Connor!" She begged. "Please!"

I placed my hands on Red's shoulders, her silken hood under my fingerless gloves. "Never. I have a more important mission than what I signed up for. I didn't sign up to kill someone who didn't know how dangerous he was. It doesn't have to be like that, Red."

"What can we do?" Asked Red.

Mary knew what to do. "Tell him." She said. "If he doesn't know, tell him. Stop him. If he'll listen to anyone, if he'll believe anyone, it's you!"

"You think I can save him?" Whispered Red.

I pulled my hands off from her shoulders. "I know you can save everyone!"

Red looked up into the sky. "It's going to get dark soon. Granny will be out of her mind with worry if we're not home. She'll go out there! Mary, Connor, this is so bad!"

Mary looked fiercely into Red's eyes. "So do something!" She said, almost angrily.

"You're right." Said Red, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I have to."

* * *

The moon started to rise as the plan was set in motion. I was to serve as crowd control and distract the mob in case they got too close. The tree that Red would chain Peter up to was not too far away, and Mary was wearing Red's hood to serve as a decoy for Granny.

Lawrence had taken a lot of my regular ammunition, but I still had my sleep darts left on my air rifle, and would use them as best I could to stop the mob from getting to the boy. I pushed the last dart into the cartridge and snapped the clip onto my air rifle. Then I pumped the handle, and set off.

The mob was still waiting for the howl from Peter as I watched them from afar. The howl would be their sign to set off and get him.

But something felt off about the whole thing. Peter seemed to be one of those villagers that despite his reluctance to join the mob in taking on the wolf, still stood with them as one of their angry members. And Granny's story. She must have been inflicted with the curse. I mean, no one can just walk away from a bite like that and not turn. I had even heard that some werewolves have children that even-

No... Oh, how didn't I see it?! Red chained up the wrong person! I sprinted off, the night winds whistling as I heard the howl. The mob started shouting as I shot through the trees towards the clearing.

I ran right into Granny and Mary as I was on the path.

"You damned fools!" Growled Granny at me. "What have you done?"

I pulled my crossbow. "You knew?! And you didn't tell us?!" I snapped.

"Of course I knew!" She shot back. "Her mother was one too, until a hunting party killed her. I thought maybe Red didn't get it, but when she was thirteen it started. I paid a wizard for that hood. It keeps her from turning but she doesn't wear it, and she's found some way out of the house."

I was baffled. "Why didn't you tell her?!" I said again.

"I didn't want her to have that burden!" Said Granny. "It's a terrible burden."

So is the life of an Assassin. But my father still let me begin my training when I turned nine.

"That story you told?" Said Mary.

"That was her grandfather. He marked me that night. Then came back, found me, turned me."

I knew it! She was one too! But if it was a full moon out...

Granny started sniffing the air.

"Granny?" Said Mary. "How are you tracking her?"

"By smell." She replied. "I still have that, even though the rest of it has faded away."

We kept going as I held my crossbow so tightly, the stock was practically cutting my arm right out of my socket.

"Gods, I was a fool to think I could keep this from her." Muttered Granny. "I am a fool, and I have cost so many lives."

"Join the club, Granny." I said. "Where I came from, people died because I failed to act."

Mary glanced at me. "Where do you come from?"

"Later, Mary. You didn't mean to lose those lives, Granny. That's the main thing."

"Is it?" She asked.

I was about to reply when we heard a howl.

"Bow ready, Connor." Said Granny. She handed Mary her lantern and drew her own. "A silver tipped arrow _will_ drop her." She said.

"Oh..." Whimpered Mary.

I crouched low as I strafed away a few feet from Granny, keeping with the direction she was taking.

"We're approaching from downwind, so we have a chance." She said bluntly.

I breathed slowly as we made our way out of the trees and into the clearing. The mob hadn't gotten here yet, but all the same it was pointless; we were too late.

Red, in the form of a massive wolf, had her snout picking through a bloody carcass. My blood turned to water as I saw it closely. It was Peter.

I kept my bow trained on Red, and Granny signaled me to strafe away a little further, but hold my fire.

*SNAP!*

"Oh, shit..."

Mary had stepped on a twig. Red's ears perked up and she turned around, snarling and snapping at us. She lunged for Granny as I pulled the trigger.

Both arrows from both crossbows hit Red, and she fell to the ground, whimpering.

"Cloak!" Commanded Granny.

Mary did as she was asked of, and pulled the hood off. She tossed it over Red, and the hood sparkled slightly. I ran over to check the carcass by the tree. There was more blood than I had ever seen on one body, and his pieces were here and there, scattered about like the most disgusting slaughterhouse aftermath ever.

"It's too late..." Breathed Snow. "He's gone!"

"Who's gone?"

Granny was looking out for the mob that we both knew was coming as Red stood up, human once again. I heard the shouts of anger coming from far away.

"Get up, girl!" Said Granny, helping her granddaughter up. "Get ready to run!"

"What's going on?"

"C'mon, Red."

The shouting was increasing in volume. "They're coming!" I called, seeing the lights of the torches growing brighter with every wasted second. "We need to get out of here!"

She had no idea. I still felt a need to protect this girl, who had killed so many without even realizing. I had a responsibility to her, as I did to every innocent I could help. I needed to go with her. I needed to save her.

"We need to go!" Cried Mary.

"Go? I don't understand!" Red was still woozy from what had just transpired, unaware she had just taken another life.

"No, I'll explain it later. We must hurry!" Said Mary.

"What? I'm confused. What's happened?"

Then Red turned to face what lay at my feet. She looked at the torn bits and pieces of what remained of her love.

"Where's Peter?"

I could only place a hand on her shoulder as Mary sobbed. "He wasn't the wolf..." She said.

Red's mouth fell open. "Granny?" She looked at her only living blood.

"I was wrong to keep it from you." She said over the sound of the approaching mob.

"It's time to go, Red." I said. "We need to get out of here!"

"...me?!" She gasped. "Oh, gods! It's-It's me!"

I looked through the trees as I saw the flashing lights of the torches. We had maybe two minutes at maximum.

"Red, go!" Said her grandmother.

"I don't want to go like this!" She sobbed.

"We have to!" I insisted, starting to pull on her as she sobbed "no" over and over again.

"It's going to be okay!" Said Mary as she tried hugging her friend.

"Mary, there's no time!" Said Granny.

"I know!" Said Mary. "I'll get her out of here!"

Granny grabbed me by the sleeve. "Keep her safe...Assassin."

I was amazed, but didn't bother to ask how she knew of my heritage. Mary and I took Red and trudged off into the night and snow started to fall again, Elsa probably weeping beyond the grave for those lost by my new friend.

* * *

My childhood after my father died and Agdar started hunting the Assassins down was mostly running. I ran from guards all my teens. But soon enough I reached an age where I wasn't running away from guards, but against them. Running to kill them.

The weeks after the revelation of the wolf's identity, I was forced to relive those memories of running from guards. As I would find out one night, all three of us were the most wanted outlaws of the kingdom.

We could rarely stop at all unless we had no choice. Whether from hunger or exhaustion. There were some mornings where Red was too catatonic to get up and keep moving. Some days she barely spoke at all. It was Mary and I that had to take charge and make sure that Red would keep moving with us.

Mary was a hard nut to crack. There were some moments during our run that she would notice papers nailed to trees. She would rip them down, but never gave me a chance to see them, stuffing them in her satchel. If we started a fire for the night, she would burn them with the blank side facing me, never giving me a chance to see what was on them.

Three whole weeks we spent on the road, running from the guards. The snow started to melt as winter passed while we moved south. The nights were getting less dark, but no more comforting. Several times we had to dive into bushes to avoid Queen Regina's Black Knights. I first thought that they were after me with my name so high on Regina's hit list. But I soon discovered that I was the runner up, with the grand prize going to the woman who now sat across from me at the fire.

It was a cold night that night, and we hadn't seen the knights in days. So we decided a fire couldn't hurt. It was as Mary started trying to burn the papers she was hiding from me that she picked up when one slipped out of her hands. I fell forwards onto my frontside into the dirt as I reached over and grabbed it.

"No!" Mary protested. "Please!"

I ignored her and looked at the paper. I looked at the portrait on the poster, than at "Mary". I held it up to compare.

"Snow White?!"

The princess winced and nodded as Red sat up. She gaped at Snow in bewilderment.

"You're not hiding from just anyone." I said. "You're hiding from Queen Regina of all people. And all this time I thought that they were hunting for me!"

"And who are you then, 'Assassin'?" Said Snow. "I heard Granny call you that. You kill people for money, don't you?"

I lowered my hood. "Asgeir." I said. "My real name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. Although most people in the Enchanted Forest know me as the White Reaper."

Snow was just as surprised as I was when she found out my name. "You've killed a lot of noble blood in this land, Asgeir. Why would you kill kind hearted nobles like the ones you have, and spare Red?"

Red glanced at me nervously. I reached into my pocket and fished out my sign. A torn piece of yellowed cloth with the Assassin insignia on it. I placed it on the ground between us and began.

"Everything you know about history is wrong, Snow White." I said. "Every conflict over anything between two kingdoms is all part of a centuries long war between two sides: the Templars and Assassins. The Templars are an organization of high nobles who have one goal: to control all of mankind. They believe that we are blind sheep that need shepherds. But I am one of the few people that refuses to stand by and let the Templars take control over humanity." I tapped on the cloth. "I am an Assassin. I come from a long line of warriors that fight for the freedom of all from the Templars."

"And those nobles? The ones you killed...?"

"Templars." I said. "The whole lot of them. They may have a public identity as kind hearted nobles, but the truth is that none of the Templars truly seek peace with this world. I oppose their beliefs in their Order. I follow a Creed: Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."

"That's quite the bold statement." Said Red.

"Well, there's more to it than that. The Creed is not wisdom, but rather the beginning of wisdom. Like a seed for a tree. Nothing is True because there is no higher power that can decide what's right and what's wrong. That is up to you to decide. Everything is Permitted because since there is no higher power to tell you what to do, it's also not there to help you from straying from the path. The simple answer is that your truth is _the_ truth, but you must live with the consequences of that truth."

Snow understood. "Regina. You thought these last weeks that she was looking for you."

"I'm right behind you on her shit list, Snow. Regina is the current Grand Master of the Templar Order with King George as her closest advisor. He believed it should have been him to take the reins in the beginning, but you know just how ruthless Regina is."

Snow nodded. "There were...things that happened when I was a little girl, and Regina never looked at me the same way again. I don't know why, but she framed me for my father's murder. Now I'm stuck living a life running from the whole kingdom. Did you ever have to go through that before, Asgeir?"

"Absolutely. Where I come from, the king murdered my father and ordered a full purge of the Assassins from the kingdom."

"Where was this?"

"A kingdom far across the northern seas called Arendelle."

"Your father. He was an Assassin?"

"Yes. He mentioned to me that your mother Queen Eva and him were friends. Daniel Swortssen was his name."

Snow shook her head. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"He went by the name of Edward Vollan to most."

"_That_ does! He said he was a longtime friend of my mother. Never asked how, but I always assumed he was some ambassador from the kingdom he came from."

"Your mother Queen Eva must have been a supporter of the Assassins, then. I have..._had_ a similar friendship with the queen from my kingdom."

"What was her name?"

"Elsa." I said. "She was my...friend, and things were hard. The kingdom's now a ruined ghost of what it was and I don't know what even happened."

"Seems we've all lost our homes, now." Said Red.

"And _that_ is why I feel the need to stay with you, Red. We can't make it out here if we don't stick together. The whole damned kingdom is trying to take our heads. Two of us are at the top of Regina's most wanted list, and one of us I don't even want to think what they could do to."

Red shuddered with fear. "We're doomed..."

I wanted to argue with Red so badly, but considering the circumstances and how bad they got this fast, she may have been right.

* * *

When I left Arendelle for good, I had only three things with me from Anna and Elsa that I kept to remind me of them. They also reminded me that no matter how I fight, no matter how I resist, eventually, all I care about will be gone from me. Even if I were to kill every Templar, and Ingrid and Rumplestiltskin, eventually, everything would be ripped from me.

"That something special?"

I looked up. I had been furiously sharpening Pick for the last hour, despite that I was using it with my magical whetstone. Only a few licks would have done it, but I was so deep in that pit of despair that night, that I couldn't stop sharpening it.

"How could you tell?" I asked Snow.

Snow reached out and I handed the thin blade to her. She looked carefully at it. "It's a good blade. I'd say that very few smiths can make a sword that good. And yet, we've been companions for almost a month and I haven't seen you use that sword yet. You took all of those Black Knights out with your other swords a few nights ago, but not with that. Yet here it is, out every few nights being sharpened for it to just go back to being sheathed, collecting dust on your belt."

"It belonged to my sister. My half-sister." I said after a few minutes of silence.

"And what happened?" Said Red

"I failed to act, and she suffered for it."

* * *

Two more weeks passed since I found out Snow's name, making it almost a month since we had ran from the mob. We were eventually chipping away right into King George's kingdom, and that meant they were looking for me. I was probably King George's greatest threat, and he knew it. He and his carefree wanker of a son had nearly bankrupted their entire kingdom, which gave me the means to take him down. Running low on gold meant desperation, and that meant recklessness, which would lead to a slip up for me to rush in and kill him and his son. But I would first need to help Red and Snow find a safe house.

The night was chaotic and frightening. Black knights and George's men alike combed through the woods on patrols, but the manner of how they searched made it look like they were on the warpath. It became apparent why when I saw the clouds part from the light of the silvery sphere, now a full circle.

We rushed through the woods as a patrol moved through the trees with their torches, swords, and spears all at the ready. I shot one of them with my crossbow, but by the time they realized that one of them didn't make it, we were already gone.

"Oh! I think we lost them!" Said Snow, not slowing down.

"Snow! Asgeir! Wait! Wait!" Said Red, trailing behind.

Snow didn't listen, and ran faster, right into a Black Knight.

"You can't run from the Queen, Snow White." Snarled the knight.

I replied as Snow tackled him by putting my blade through his neck when he tried to get up.

"Come on! There are more coming!" I called out.

We kept on going. More knights started appearing, realizing that their two priority outlaws were in the same woods, making them both tied up in a neat little bow like a "two-for-one" deal.

Snow suddenly stopped to glance at a tree. I was about to pull her and urge her to keep going when I saw what was on the tree. The same wanted poster that she had hid from us for weeks.

"WANTED: Snow White. For crimes against the Queen: Murder, Treason, Treachery."

Snow took one more second, then reached over and angrily tore the poster down.

We kept rushing through the bushes, eventually turning into a couple big ones by some trees off the road. We ducked down as another patrol passed by, taking no notice of us.

I leaned out of the bush after a moment, then nodded.

"It's okay." Said Red, listening. "They're gone."

Snow looked at the poster in her hands. "She's never going to stop, is she?"

I was going to reply, but Red yelped in fright. She held up the source of her fear: a tear in her red hood.

"My hood..." She moaned. "It's torn."

She started shuffling away from us on her back. "You have to go! You have to get away from me!"

I shook my head. "We're not leaving you!" I snapped.

"There's a full moon tonight!" Said Red. "Wolfstime is beginning. This hood is the only thing that can protect me from turning."

"It's just a tear!" Insisted Snow. "It'll still work."

"What if it doesn't?" Countered Red. "You saw what I did to Peter! This thing...the wolf... When it takes over me I can't control it."

I was amazed. Fate had brought me from one girl afraid of what she could do to another. Elsa to Red.

"Please, Snow. Asgeir. Go find shelter. I'll go further into the woods and find a place to hide. For your own sake we have to split up."

Red was afraid just as Elsa once was, but this time she had beyond good reason to make us split up. I wasn't afraid that Red had killed so many others without realizing it, but I know I should have been. I still thought I could still bleed.

Snow and I glanced at each other, then agreed. "Alright." She said. "Just for tonight. Let's all meet up in the morning by the stream, and then we'll find a safe place for all of us. Maybe a nice cabin in the woods."

Or maybe an Assassin hideout if any were still operating here. We didn't have the kind of power we did in Arendelle.

"Why are you doing this?"

I looked up at Red. "Doing what?"

"Being so...kind to me, the both of you. You saw what I did as a wolf, and Asgeir, you said you would be paid a lot if you killed me. You saw what I am."

Snow held her friend's hand. "I know that's not who you really are."

"As for me," I said. "Let's just say that I have a responsibility to people like you, Red. I have a tender spot in my heart for victims and outlaws like us. I helped one soul in a similar boat a long time ago, and I do it because I know what it's like to have people hate and fear you for what you are."

I held both girl's left hands tightly, the three of us almost doing a sort of three way pinky swear. Anna had me and Elsa do one together, too. I swore with my sisters that we would never turn our backs on each other. "We're in this together, Red." Vowed Snow.

Red smiled a little, then raised her hood. She nodded to the two of us, then headed off into the night. I raised mine as well.

"See you bright and early." I said, rushing off.

* * *

Morning came much later than I wanted it to. I found a rabbit and had a fire as dawn approached, but all the same I hated having to leave Red alone, running the risk that the Black Knights might find her.

When I arrived at the creek later, I didn't find Red, but Snow was there.

"I was hoping you were Red." She said as I stepped out from the trees.

"Likewise. Where has she run off to?"

"I don't know. I've been waiting almost an hour for her."

I did a quick scan of the woods around us with my Sight. "She's not here." I said. "You think she ditched us?"

"No. Even if she wanted to protect us, I don't see Red leaving behind her only friends." Snow winced with fear. "You think the Black Knights found her?"

I looked at my friend as I knelt by the creek and took a quick drink from my hands. "That's a grim possibility." I replied. I got up. "I hate to suggest this since we already lost Red this way, but maybe we should split up again."

Snow raised an eyebrow, concerned that it would lead to the same result, but then nodded. "Fine. Keep hidden, find Red, and if you see any posters of me-"

"Tear them down. I got it." I said, setting towards the forests.

I hate to hide all the facts from Snow, but since she didn't have the Sight like I did, she wasn't as good a tracker as I was.

I wasn't lying when I said Red wasn't there at the time, but I didn't mention the other fact: she had been there before. I followed the path that she left behind as she ran off. The ghosts I saw through my Sight showed that someone snatched her hood and took off with it, Red following behind. He almost burned it, evident by the burned out torch I found on the ground not far from the creek.

Eventually I found the place where the man had led Red, but I was taken off by it. I knew this place.

Many Assassin hideouts were either abandoned for various reasons, or taken over by the Templars. I was standing directly above an old Assassin hideaway. My father told me of this one a long time ago. He said it was made of the ruins of an old castle and became an outpost for Assassins after it sank into the ground. But a savage Assassin who turned out to be a werewolf slaughtered every one of their brothers there before setting off. Some branches of the Order forbade werewolves to become Assassins because of their unpredictability. Arendelle's branch didn't condemn them, but we also didn't encourage them. My father hated them, saying they were another plague we were doomed to if we didn't cleanse the world of them.

I drew my crossbow. Whatever was down there could be the wolf. I took a step forward and fell down after a heavy object smacked me in the back of the head.

* * *

"...one of them. Just look at his hood."

"Quinn, he's my friend! He stood by me and helped me escape!"

"He's also an Assassin. They kill us for sport."

I was tied up to a stone pillar in a hall with rugs and tapestries cluttering the entire room most of my weapons gone, with the exception of my silver knife in my boot. A small campfire lay in the center of the circular room, and I found I was surrounded by men and women, clearly the ones who knocked me out. Red stared at me from among them in bewilderment.

"Asgeir! What are you doing here?"

I groaned. "Hell of a smack you put on my head there, Red. I thought we were friends."

A younger man with brown hair and a stubble scoffed, crossing his arms. "Typical Assassin. Always quick to turn against our kind."

"Quinn, stop it!" Said Red. She crouched down in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I muttered.

"Why did you draw your bow before you entered our domain, Assassin?" Said Quinn.

I glared at him. "This is a condemned hideout for Assassins because a whole branch of us were slaughtered here. It only has one way in and out. Excuse me if I didn't enter without any caution." I sat up. "My turn to ask questions: who the hell are you arseholes?"

"We're her pack." Snapped Quinn, standing by Red.

I smirked, realizing they were all wolves. "Pack, eh? You can't have known Red, what, a day? Maybe two, I have no idea how long I was out for."

"Almost a day." Said Red. "They're my friends, Asgeir." She turned to Quinn. "And he's my friend, too. Please let him go!"

"He's an Assassin. They hate our kind. They banished half of us from the Order."

"Let's not forget how many lives are taken by former Assassins like you." I replied. "I've seen savagery from some of you first hand. You're unpredictable. Most of banished Assassins were cut off for a good reason!"

"'Ye who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones.'" I watched as a tall dark haired woman stepped out from the shadows, glaring down on me. "Who was the one who drew his weapon before entering? I am Anita, Assassin. I am the head of this pack."

I spat loudly towards the woman's feet. "I'm Asgeir, Master Assassin of Arendelle and I don't care who you are, you shite!"

Red looked up at the woman, then at me. "She's...my mother."

That did it. This woman was going to kill me. The last time someone of close relation to an friend of mine came back from the dead, my entire homeland was frozen and my sisters were slaughtered. I wasn't as surprised as I should have been that Granny lied about her daughter's death, but I was scared for my own life.

"Red, listen to me. These ones aren't to be trusted. They'll kill me simply because I wear a hood!"

Red glanced at her mother, a haunting reflection of her daughter.

"Please, Mother. Let him go!"

"You claim to be a friend of my daughter's, yet call us monsters." Anita ignored her daughter. "We saw what kind of weapons you have. No one needs that much silver. Red's just like us, Assassin."

"Wrong." I replied. "Freaks like you tore apart brave men and women who wore the hood because they believed in something bigger than themselves. Little wonder my father hated your kind."

Anita leaned down and struck me across the face. "I know who you are, Asgeir. Your father Daniel often talked about you when I was an eagle. He personally stripped me of my hood when my branch found out what I was. I was only trying to defend myself and they attacked me instead of stay at my side like all Assassins should. They saw me as another Rogue. So if I killed any Assassins, I did it to protect myself."

I glared up, looking at Red. "Don't side with savages who'll kill the ones that care for you, Red. The last friend I know who sided with the wrong people, I couldn't save in time."

Anita pulled out a cloth and gagged me. "We'll decide your fate soon enough, Reaper."

Anita was another Ingrid. Jumping to the conclusion that I was going to take her life for the sole reason that I didn't trust her. But Red was more conflicted than I felt comfortable with.

Yes, some branches of the Order were against werewolves so much that they would banish them, but others would permit them as long as they could control it. Anita must have been that wolf that slaughtered all the Assassins in this very castle, but I couldn't be certain if what she said was true. That they had attacked her unprovoked.

I was perfectly capable of untying myself from the pillar, but I chose not to just yet. I needed to wait until their guard was down. As well, Red's insistence that I wouldn't hurt them was the only thing keeping me alive at this point.

* * *

Being nocturnal, the pack began sleeping not long after my confrontation with Anita. I sat nervously, gagged while sitting beside the monsters. I was considering bolting out of there, when Quinn jumped up.

"Hunters." He whispered, and the others got up and raced into the shadows with incredible speed.

The intruder walked down the stairs and into the main hall. It was Snow!

"Aughugh!" I yelled, muffled by the gag.

Too late. Quinn jumped out and grabbed Snow by the throat.

"No! Don't!" Cried Red, running for her friend. "She's not here to hurt us!"

"What other reason does another human have for entering our den?!" Snarled Quinn.

"Aughugh!" I cursed at Quinn.

"She's a friend!" Tried Red. "Who stood by me after she learned the truth! After I killed! Without her or Asgeir I never would have escaped my village alive!"

Anita stood up from her velvet "throne", the highest seat in the room. "Let her go." She commanded.

Quinn hesitated, then angrily obliged, shoving Snow to the floor. I had a nice place in his head to put the knife I had in my boot. I was amazed that it was still there; Assassins almost always leave their backup weapon in their boot, making them easy to find for banished brothers.

Snow coughed as Red hurried to her side. "I'm sorry, Snow!" She cried.

Snow coughed. "When you didn't show up at the stream the other morning I thought the Queen's men had killed you."

"Auughhu!" I replied.

Snow noticed me. "Asgeir?" Then she looked at the people around her nervously. "So...who are your friends?" She asked, getting up.

"We're her pack." Said Quinn, again.

Snow was curious. "Are they-"

"Yes." Replied Red. "They're like me." She smiled a little. "But you don't have to fear them."

"Of course not." Said Snow, curtly.

"How did you find us?" Demanded Anita.

"Aughugh. Aughedileaftugh!" I stated. I needed to get my gag off, but I couldn't risk the wolves realizing I was undoing my restraints slowly. I saw they tied me up with the Freeman knot. Amateurs.

"I tracked wolf prints here." Said Snow. "Like you taught me." She nodded to Red.

"You could've been caught by the Queen's men!" Breathed Red.

"I wasn't gonna leave you!" Said Snow. She glanced at me, then smiled a little. "Why don't we get Asgeir, and then go find that cabin we talked about, okay?"

She started to take Red's hand, but Red wouldn't give it to her. She looked back at her "pack", then back at Snow. The princess understood.

"You're not coming with us, are you?"

Red nodded. "I don't have to be ashamed of who I am here. I found my home." She smiled. "I found my mother!"

I could see why she would find a better place among savages like them, but it was wrong all the same. She wasn't like them. Most of them killed humans for fun. Or food. And I was betting that Snow would have a little trouble taking their next meal with her. I started working harder on undoing the rope. It was an easy knot, but took a while to undo.

Snow was a little aback by the whole bit about how Red's mother was still alive. "But I thought-"

"Granny lied." Red said, simply. "I'm sorry, Snow. I know you and Asgeir risked your lives to come back here for me."

Snow shook her head. "No, I understand." She said. "I would do anything to be with my mother again."

My mother dealt with a devil to hide the magic of one of my sisters and receive a potion to forget me, so my feelings towards her weren't as sincere compared to Snow's.

Red looked down as she took her friend's hands. "I know we planned on leaving the kingdom together-" She began.

"I'll be alright." Said Snow.

"Auyughh!"

"We'll both be. You've taught me enough already, and I got Asgeir with me. I'll manage." Snow leaned in and hugged her friend. "Bye, Red. Thank you." She whispered.

"No, thank _you_!" Came the reply.

I then broke free of the ropes and stood up. A sudden noise and I saw one of Red's pack fall to the ground, dead. The wolves looked up in surprise as several Black Knights marched in. Anita stalked towards one of them.

"Stand down, or die at the hands of the-"

Anita snapped the guard's neck with her bare hands. The wolves started an all out brawl against the Black Knights with nothing but their own hands. I was just drawing my knife when I saw Quinn standing before me.

"You led them here!" He snarled.

I glared at him. "I'm an Assassin. Since when do I deal with Templar rubbish like the Queen?"

Quinn answered that by getting down on all fours and turning into a wolf before my eyes. I pulled out my dagger and stood ready.

"Play dead, Rover!" I sneered.

Quinn bounded for me and pinned me to the ground. He started snapping at me, trying to bite me. I held both my hands in front, trying to hold back his teeth. My knife was about six feet away, by the fire. Quinn kept snapping for me as I tried to push him back. I reached my arm around so far that it ended up at an awkward angle and I felt Quinn take a massive chomp right onto my arm.

I screamed in pain, realizing that I was now cursed with the wolf. Now my hood would be taken away and the Assassins would leave me to hunt with freaks like these. Because now I _was_ one of those freaks.

The anger of that only made me reach farther for my knife as Quinn started to even chew on my arm. I could even feel some of his teeth lodging into my sleeve. At last I grabbed it and plunged it right into his temple.

A fatal hit all on it's own, it had silver coating just to ensure his death. Quinn's massive body fell on top of me, completely human.

I rolled his body off as I heard Anita scream for her loyal dog. I stood up, jumping clear of the hellhound in a woman's form as she knelt over Quinn's body. I saw all the bodies litter the floor, almost all of them the Black Knights, with the exception of that wolf that was shot first, and Quinn.

I noticed all my other weapons were in a pile that had been out of my sight, and ran over to them, strapping them to prepare for the upcoming carnage.

"May you always run free beneath the moon's pale light." Prayed Anita. I heard it was their "_Requiescat in Pace_". Ours was "_Hvil I Fred_", which meant rest in peace in Old Arendellian, or Ancient Norse as most would call it.

Anita glared with piercing eyes at me and Snow. "You. You did this!" She snarled.

I nodded. "And I would do it again."

"How dare you! And you brought the Queen's men into our den!"

"What, no!" Said Snow. "You have to believe me! I had no idea they followed me!"

"Mother, you have to believe Snow!"

"It doesn't matter." She sneered. "Wherever humans go, death follows. The same can be said double for Assassins"

"Are you thick in the head?!" I snapped. "That's what 'assassin' means, you bitch!"

"You came into our den and killed two of our own!" Said Anita to me.

"Hey, I was only trying to defend myself!" I echoed Anita's words. "They saw me as another Rogue! If I killed any wolves, it was only to protect myself!"

Anita grabbed me by the neck with unreal strength. I could barely even move from her grip. "You sicken me, Reaper! The only way to stop people like you is to kill them all first! Tie them up!"

I felt the wolves grab me from behind, and pull me to another pillar, but not before unsheathing and tossing most of my weapons to the far corner of the room.

"When the moon rises, we'll feast on a Princess. And the Assassin will make a perfect appetizer!"

"What're you doing?!" Cried Red, terrified.

"This is what you signed up for, sweetheart!" I snapped. "Hope you're satisfied!"

"They'll pay for the lives we lost." Growled Anita.

The wolves pulled me over and tied me up much tighter to the new pillar. I couldn't even breathe as the rope was wrapped around.

"Mother, you're not making any sense!" Wailed Red.

Anita glared at her daughter. "You already made your choice, Red. You're one of us, now. Act like it!" She got up real close to Red's face. "Kill them." She breathed.

Red sniffed, then looked slightly defiant towards her beast of a mother. "No. I won't kill my friends."

Anita wouldn't accept that. "Then I will." She started for Snow.

"No! Mother, stop!"

Anita looked back at the young girl. "Sorry, my daughter. This is what it means to be a wolf!" She kept going, falling down on all fours and shifting into a wolf. Snow shivered breathlessly as her canaballistic executioner started for her. I could only watch; the wolves had my hands pinned down.

"This is what awaits all Assassins, Son of Swortssen." Snarled the wolf to my left.

Anita looked ready to lunge for Snow, when another wolf jumped and rammed Anita aside. It was Red!

The wolves were so appalled by the double-cross, they forgot to hold me down. I undid my bindings and socked the other wolves in their faces. I jumped over and grabbed my crossbow. Snow was able to get loose of her ropes, and broke free.

"No one move!" I yelled out. "I will end every single one of you since I'm already dead!"

I was in the center of the hall as Snow tossed the red hood over Red's head. Red ran for the body I now saw on the floor. It was Anita, impaled on the fire poker.

"I didn't mean to!" Sobbed Red.

_*It was an accident!*_ I heard a little girl wail. I never heard this girl say that, but there was no doubt who said it.

"I'm sorry, mother!"

"You chose her!" Gasped Anita, spitefully.

Red sobbed harder. "No! I chose me!" She stated. "I'm not a killer!"

Anita kept coughing up blood as I drew my bowstring back and loaded an arrow in.

"I am." I replied.

Red looked at me, and understood. "Please stop her suffering!"

I held up my crossbow towards Anita's head. She glared at me, but for a second, it looked like one of respect. "Nothing is True..." She sighed.

I nodded. "Everything is Permitted..." I pulled the trigger.

* * *

The silvery light only brought me more misery as I stood above Red. She knelt down as she placed the flat plank to serve as a headstone. It had a crude carving of a crescent moon on it. I had put down two monsters in one night, and it only brought me dread. The wolves ran off after their alpha was dead, leaving us to see another day.

"May you always run free beneath the moon's pale light." Prayed Red. She stood up. "Goodbye, mother."

All Snow and I could really do was embrace our hooded friend as she wept.

"I'm so sorry." Said Snow, as if it was her own fault. "I know what it's like to lose your family."

"I didn't lose my family today." Red stated, boldly. "I protected it." She glanced at us. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Anita wanted you to choose between being a human and being a wolf." I said.

"Granny did, too." Said Snow.

Red pulled away from our embrace and smiled. "You are the only people who ever thought it was okay for me to be both."

I smirked as the girls laughed a little. "It's because that's who you are, Red."

Snow smiled. "Come on. Let's go find the cabin!"

As we started, I felt it that it was as good a time as any. "I told you about Elsa." I said.

"Yes." Said Red. "Your friend from your kingdom? She's the Queen."

"_Was_ the Queen." I replied. "But she was more than that. She was my sister as well."

Red was amazed. "You're a prince?"

"A bastard." I replied. "I'm her older half-brother, and I kept an eye on her for a long time. She was like you, Red. She had magic no one else could understand. Magic she could barely control. And it hurt people. People were afraid of her as much as she was afraid of herself. But she learned control through the love of our other sister, and I became a loyal friend to her as well as soldier for the kingdom."

"And she died?" How?" Asked Snow.

I sighed. "There was a reason I was so eager to hurt those around me in that hall, Red. It turned out Elsa wasn't the first to have this kind of magic. There was an aunt of ours many of us didn't even know existed. She was more powerful than I could handle, and she was also insane. Completely nuts. I looked at Anita, and I saw my aunt. My bloody insane aunt"

Red glanced at me, but then continued walking.

"She froze the entire kingdom. Ice magic is what Elsa and her both specialized in. She froze the kingdom and killed both my half-sisters. I was the only one to escape. When they had me prisoner, I felt that this was another test sent to me by fate. If I didn't act soon enough, more people that I cared for would die."

There was silence for a while until Red spoke up again.

"Elsa was like me?" Asked Red.

"Not quite. She wasn't a wolf, but she was afraid of what she could do. You would have liked her, Red. You would have been good friends. She was afraid of that which she didn't understand, but learned hope through me and Anna. She learned faith. She learned-"

I trailed off, but it wasn't out of difficulty for the story I was telling. The other two thought they understood my silence, and left me be as I examined my arm.

I was looking for where Quinn had bit me. As soon as I saw where it was, I rolled back my sleeve and kept quiet.

I wasn't afraid I was going to turn. I was afraid that there was no damn wound! There was blood, but no hint of a wound.

* * *

A week afterwards, we reached the edge of the Evergreen Thickets. When the trees started thinning out and the fields of King George's realm began, we saw a small cottage. There was no smoke coming from the chimney, so we headed over, and after some careful lock picking, went inside.

It wasn't a good hovel, but decent enough to live in. Snow said that she would stay there, but Red and I both realized we couldn't stay.

"Are you sure?" Asked Snow. "Regina doesn't have authority here. We're safe"

"King George is out for me even worse than Regina." I said. "I can't stay in one place, else I will pay with my life. It's safe for you here, but no for me."

"It's easier this way, Snow." Said Red. "But we'll come and visit plenty."

"Absolutely." I said. "And if you need my help when I'm not here, just draw the insignia on a piece of parchment and tie it to a pigeon. It'll find me."

Snow nodded, then hugged both of us. "Goodbye, Red. Asgeir!"

I smiled, and returned the hug. Some friends run their habits on you. I guess Olaf helped me like "warm hugs" at one point.

* * *

"You certain that this was the wolf that was terrorizing the village? This wolf that you killed?" Said Lawrence.

"I'm positive." I said. I had given Lawrence the fangs off Quinn he had left in my sleeve when he bit me. I didn't mention the absence of a wound on my arm.

"Looks like you did good, Asgeir." Said Lawrence.

"Yes." I agreed. "The true monsters are vanquished."


	14. Chapter 14: The Tower

**A/N: Let me preface this apology by saying that this was not my intention to make anyone think I may have left this hanging if I came across like that. I have no real excuse to explain why I made the gap so big in updating. But if did in the beginning.**

**Towards the end of March, a relative of mine passed away. All you need to know is that he was a close relative, and it was a hard time after he passed away, and I stopped writing for a while.**

**At around the same time, I reached a breaking point with my job. It literally took up all the time I had, and no one at the store I worked at really understood how difficult it was working nights full time. I have just changed jobs to a much more convenient job that lets me work days on a much more convenient schedule.**

**I have no intention on leaving this story hanging, and even have an awesome future project in store after this one is finished. I admit that my big How I Met Your Mother story was left hanging, but I might return to it one day. I just don't know when. I promise that my next chapter will be coming much sooner, and without further ado, here we go!**

* * *

Chapter 14: The Tower

That familiar chill hit me hard as I practically slammed myself awake. I was on the muddy beach by the river by the cannery. After slapping most of the wet sand off my hoodie, I headed back towards the inn.

On my best nights I would have woken to the nightmares at the front door of my cabin. The worst nights took me to parts of the Interior forests I didn't even recognize, and took me an entire day to get back to the cabin. The therapists back when I was with the Assassins said it was an extreme case of parasomnia due to PTSD. Idiots.

Jason was waiting for me at the bar when I walked in.

"Where were you?" He asked, getting up.

"Out. Needed some fresh air."

"At four in the morning? Zar said he saw you stumble out the door after he was getting back from a night patrol."

"Not now, Jason." I groaned. "I just woke up."

Jason looked even more confused, but nodded and reached into his pocket. "Follow me." He said.

He led me into the kitchens, the greasy smell of burning bacon filling the air. Take away all I cared for, and I could maybe live. But if someone got rid of bacon, their head would hit the floor before they could reconsider.

Jason walked over to the meat locker. Beside it was a coat hangar hook with a white apron on it. He pulled the hook down, then opened the meat locker. It was a normal one, but a trapdoor was now open in the floor with stairs leading down.

"Surprising that in all of his times Graham investigated the pub, he never once tried here."

"How many times did he check this place?"

"Like I said, he always knew that the arms dealing operation was going on. Regina authorized him at least 3 times a month to investigate. The idea when she cursed us was that it put us in a better position to get arrested. But we're smarter than that."

As I walked down, I realized that they were almost understating when they said "arms dealing". I saw military grade weapons propped against the walls on racks. I couldn't even count how many amounted to one entire rack. AK-47s, M-4s, the entire freaking Marine Corps worth of arsenals.

"What kind of customers do we deal with?" I asked, cautiously.

"As we remembered with our cursed selves, we dealt with organizations like the IRA in Belfast and other contacts with the Assassins including a few motorcycle gangs in the south. Those Irish love their guns."

I wasn't happy to hear this, but as I learned the hard way, our only friends had to be those the Templars made out to be terrorists and criminals, not freedom fighters.

"I would know. Spent two years working on their front lines."

Jason raised an eyebrow as he looked back at me, continuing the decent down into the Bunker. "You're going to tell me everything that happened while you were gone, won't you brother?"

"For sure." I replied. "But not today."

Then it was my turn to ask about someone I was looking forward to taking down aside from Zelena or Ingrid.

"Where's the imp?" I asked, bluntly.

Jason didn't know who I was referring to, until he gave it a second and realized I meant Rumplestiltskin.

"Yeah, I guess that's all that matters to you, now. Killing those who wronged you. He wasn't on the board upstairs because we didn't consider him to be a real target. But all the same, it's a little late for that, Asgeir. Someone beat you to him."

I groaned. "Dead already? He was my kill. No one else's."

"Except it wasn't anyone else who killed him. He apparently sacrificed himself to save the town from Pan when he came here to take us on."

I shook my head. "Bullshit. Rumplestiltskin wouldn't kill himself unless he had something truly worth it to gain out of it."

"Believe what you want, Asgeir. Most of the town say he died a hero."

"And you?"

Jason and I were almost at the large metal door. It bore the Assassin insignia all over it.

"I don't know what to believe out of him. All I know is that it's because of him that most of this shit rained down on us since you and Anna left for the Enchanted Forest."

* * *

The Bunker was what I expected out of any Assassin hideout. Much of what we had down there came from our hideouts in Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest. Just as many modern conveniences were present down there, including a shelf of at least a hundred radios charging in their ports. Jason grabbed one, turned the dial to number 7, then handed it to me. He also handed me a piece of paper with the channel guide.

"On the radio you address yourself as Reaper." He said.

"Fitting." I replied.

Jason smirked. "The guide also has most of our own names over the radio. I've been put down as Argon, but we can get to that later."

"What do we have in ordinates?"

"Plenty of ammunition. Before the Curse, these weapons were ones we muled to our contacts. Now we've taken everything the Irish shipped for us, and we use our merchandise ourselves."

"The Charmings made this place out to be one with no contact to the outside world. How did we get in contact with the Irish?"

"There are holes in the fence around the town. We just know where they are, as do our friends out there."

After setting me up with a radio and a more modern weapon in the form of a handgun to go along with my whole set, Jason gave me a quick job.

"I'd stop by the diner next to the bait store before meeting up with Snow White and David."

"Why?"

"Your reputation in the war precedes you, Asgeir." Replied Jason. "Some of your friends are waiting there."

* * *

My truck was in the garage hidden across the way from the pub, in a loading bay for the lumber warehouse. I was going to use it, but a quick glance of the map given to me by Matthew showed me that the town was closer knit than it appeared.

The sun was coming up soon enough. From the cannery, I walked down Main Street, passing a shop called Mr. Gold's. Whoever owned it was a very powerful wizard, because I could feel my Sight crackling and sparking up.

I cut across the street and passed by the bait shop just as the sun peeked over the water. I glanced back to see the clock tower. 7:15 AM.

I kept walking, and glanced up at the sign above the door. I smirked at the name: "Granny's". I pulled down my hood as I stomped up the three worn out, wooden steps and opened the door. It was so old, it practically flew open as I stepped inside and closed it. A bell above the door rang loudly as I did so.

"Table for one?" Asked the blonde waitress, not looking up from the bar table. She briefly glanced at me, but then went right back to whatever she was writing down.

I laughed. "Yes, Cindy. I think I will have a table for one."

She looked up, and gasped. "Asgeir!"

I opened my arms and laughed as my friend for such a short time embraced me.

"It's actually Ashley here." She said with pride.

I smirked. "Cinderella in one life, Ashley in another. The irony never stops."

She smiled, then waved over another waitress. "Ruby!"

My older friend suddenly noticed me, and ran over.

"What are you doing here, Asgeir?" She asked. "After the First Curse, we never found you."

"It's because I never was a part of it. I escaped and been exiled ever since."

Ruby and Ashley sat me down at one of the booths as I explained.

"I got a call for help from the Assassins here. I'm to help us track down and get the Wicked Witch."

"That'll be tricky, even for an Assassin." Said Ruby. "Unless you have any suspects lined up?"

I held my hand up. "Not just yet. I'm not sure what relationship you have with my brothers here, but I'm not at liberty to discuss what we do just yet."

"This Curse brought us new memories and lives." Said Ashley. "Here, Granny's and Cormac's were direct competition to each other, considering both of them are inns and bars. Most of the people who hung at Cormac's were considered the delinquents here."

"And now?" I asked.

"You made friends in the war, Asgeir. A lot of us know people like Matthew and the other Assassins through you." Ruby said. "Some people outside the Assassins stop by Cormac's, but this place remains where everyone else goes to."

"Fair enough. Jason told me to stop by here, and I assume you're the reasons why."

"And it is good to see you again, Asgeir." Said Ashley. "From all that's happened, us forgetting a whole year, it's clear that we'll need all the help we can get."

"I'll do what I can." I said, noticing that my phone was buzzing in my hoodie pocket. "Listen, I'll be back later today to see you again, but I'm needed elsewhere right now."

The girls both said their goodbyes as I headed back out the door and out onto the street as I checked my phone.

I had given David and Emma the number off the burner I had. They had both sent me texts requesting my help that I check Regina's office for any evidence left behind by the Witch.

This Witch was the Assassins' problem just as much as it was Storybrooke's. But our secrecy demanded that we kept Zelena's identity as the Witch our own knowledge until we knew what she was after, and then kill her. I'd have rather just cut to the chase and slice her throat open than give her more time to make her plans, but I was on thin ice enough as it was. I wanted my hood back for years. For seven damn years.

"Be there soon." I texted back to both Emma and David as I headed back down the street towards the cannery. The Mayor's office was a sharp right turn after I would pass Mr. Gold's. I crossed the street underneath the awnings of the hardware store and started that way. Just as I was passing Gold's, the door flung open and a red haired woman stepped out.

We both stopped and locked eyes. She smiled at me, and I to her.

"Hello." She said, cheerfully. "Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

"Yes, indeed." I replied. "Although is it good for you?" I said with concern.

The woman looked confused at the question. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"I'm quite sure you know exactly what I mean, Zelena." I sneered. "Are you sure you are well? You look a little...well..." I chuckled. "Green."

Zelena's smiled vanished, replaced by that scowl she always seemed to have on her face. Her nose scrunched up angrily, and her eyes narrowed at just the right amount of hate. While she didn't show it, she was afraid of how I remembered who she was. "You here to try and talk some sense into me, Assassin?"

I took a step towards her, threateningly. There was nothing she could do to me to hurt or kill me, and even if she did, it would risk her exposure. I saw a group of three townspeople walk out of the meat store across the street. Plenty of witnesses around if something were to happen.

"I'm not here to try and 'preach' anything for you, Zelena." I said. "I'm done caring for you or even thinking there's hope for you. You're too consumed with getting what was denied to you."

"Yes, I heard this song already. And you were too afraid to show yourself to your sisters, so you hid in the shadows, helping them from afar."

"Plenty was denied to me, too." I shot back. "We're a lot alike, you and me."

Zelena stepped forward so close to me, our noses were about as close as man and wife on their wedding night. Her bright green eyes were burning like Wildfire. "We are nothing alike, Asgeir!"

I nodded. "There's one thing about us that makes that statement plausible. At least I forged a new path for me instead of salting my wounds with envy."

I stepped back, holding up my hands. "I'll stay out of your way as best as I care to do so. But all you have to do is avoid doing something completely stupid or insane."

Zelena bared her teeth. Just as rabid as before. "And I will listen to you?"

"You will." I said, bluntly. "Because I'll kill you if you don't. Slowly. Agonizingly. And then I'll kill the other witch here. And I'll make you both suffer hard and long."

I patted Zelena on the arm and went back to smiling cheerfully. "You have a nice day, now."

* * *

Emma, David, Hook and I were sweeping the Mayor's office soon afterwards. I had joined later than them, but hasn't missed much. We couldn't find much until David noticed a scuff on the floor.

"I think I have a partial footprint." He said, kneeling down to it. "You guys see anything?"

"Other than an austere sense of design, nothing."

I stood carefully in the center of the room, watching carefully as I focused my Sight.

"The Witch came in the through the window, walked to this point," I gestured to the footprint, watching Zelena's ghost replay the events before my eyes. "And then vanished as you and Regina came in."

"Nothing we didn't know already." Emma said. "Is that blood?" She looked down at the footprint.

David wiped a part of the red footprint with his thumb, and sniffed it. "It's berry." He replied.

"What, like a fruit berry?" I said.

"No, holly berry." Replied David. "They grow on bushes."

"Are you some sort of botanist in this life, mate?" Hook said, slightly confused.

"I worked in an animal shelter." David replied. "Saw dogs track them all the time. The bushes grow in the woods."

"You know where?" Asked Emma.

"Yeah. The northwest corner. Not far from the toll bridge."

David suddenly looked down as his phone vibrated, and pulled it out of his pocket. He checked it and grimaced.

"Everything okay?" Asked Emma.

"Mary Margret needs me to come back to the loft." He replied. "We're getting a midwife and she wants to meet the both of us."

"That's a bit demanding, isn't it?" I said.

Emma glanced at me.

"I meant the midwife."

David looked uneasily at us, but Emma nodded.

"It's fine. Go." She said.

"No." David said. "We just got on track here, I mean-"

"And I've got it covered." Emma replied. "She needs you. Just meet us when we get done."

David sighed, not sure what to do as he looked at the text.

"We got this, Shepherd." I said. "Don't need to lose your head over it."

David gave in. "Alright." He said, turning and heading off.

As he headed out, Emma, Hook and I followed, taking off in different directions. David got into his truck and headed back towards the loft, while the three of us went off into the woods.

* * *

"You'll look for any excuse to use that thing, won't you?" Said Emma.

Hook had just started picking at a nearby bushes branches with his hook as we approached the area we were looking for. A quick reference to the maps back at the Bunker would pinpoint this area somewhere in Sector 5.

"This is the right place." I said. "At least we know that."

"Yeah. So what now?" Said Hook.

"I can track best on my own." I said. "I say I can split off and find what we're looking for better."

"Are you sure?" Said Emma. "What about flying monkeys or this Witch. Or something?"

I raised my hood and drew one of my swords. "You're parents never told you anything about me, Emma. Ignorance may as well be bliss for now." I went off without another word.

Slashing one branch after another, I focused as I heard the whispers guide me towards where I was looking.

Zelena wouldn't have walked through this part of the woods frequently. It was too thick, and I reckoned that she had a better hiding spot than someplace right in the middle of the woods. The best hiding spots were right in plain sight.

"This is Harpy reporting." Came a voice on my radio. "I have a possible ping on Priority Target."

I pulled my radio off my belt. "Reaper here. What's your 20?"

"I'm in the woods near Sector 5." He replied. "Sniper eyes on a clearing near the Northern edge of this sector. Farmhouse near the center. Appears to be empty."

"Copy that." I said. "I'll go check it out. Return to the Bunker for debriefing and grab a beer."

"Yes sir." The Assassin sounded happy at the thought of that.

I turned the dial of my radio until I got to the sheriff's radio frequency. "Emma. I have a possible 20 on the Witch."

"I hear you, Asgeir. Where do we meet?"

"There's a large clearing not too far from here. We can meet there."

I trudged on through the snow towards the edge of the woods. When I reached the large field, I spotted Emma and Hook heading towards my direction. I waved at them, and Hook waved his hook right back at me.

Emma sighed. "A farmhouse." She exclaimed. "You have to appreciate the irony."

Indeed there was a farmhouse in the large field. The three of us walked over to the cottage and onto the porch. I drew my flintlock as I leaned up against the wall beside the window.

"There's definitely someone living here." Emma whispered, peering in through the window. "Looks empty right now, though."

"Why are we whispering?" Hook said.

"The best hideaways always _look_ abandoned, mate." I whispered.

"Asgeir's right." Whispered Emma, the three of us shimmying against the wall, around the porch. "Trust me. I spent a lot of time tracking down people who don't want to be found. I know about hiding out."

Emma glanced around the corner, slowly. There was nothing there except a bicycle with a basket propped against the wall. I see what Zelena did there. Although maybe she didn't herself.

"Storm...cellar." I heard. The whispers of my Sight. I squinted my eyes as I looked out towards the field. The door to the cellar was right there.

"There!" I pointed.

"Storm cellar." Muttered Emma.

Hook and I followed behind as Emma headed towards it, kicking up more snow as we headed through. My feet were freezing, because I hadn't given much thought to the weather. I wasn't wearing a hat, boots, or jacket. Only my hoodie and runners. I guess it ran in the family, almost. Never giving much thought to the cold.

Emma pulled out her gun as we approached the padlocked cellar door, but Hook stopped her.

"Wait, wait." He protested. "It's one thing walking around a deserted farmhouse. It's quite another descending into a one-way cellar with no way out."

"That's why we have tactical and logistical support, Captain." I said, pulling my air rifle. "What else is the grenade launcher for? What are you, scared?"

"Hold on, Asgeir." He said. "Hear me out. There's a difference between fear and strategy." Hook gestured to the locked door. "We know she's got flying monstrosities. Who knows what's down there? If this witch is as powerful as we think, we could use some magical backup. Unless you've been practicing in New York?"

I scoffed. Magical support would only fuck things up even further. But Emma took no notice.

"Okay, I'll call Regina." Emma said, pulling out her phone. "Have her drop Henry off at Granny's. I'd like to see those flying monstrosities get past her crossbow."

I laughed when Hook replied with "and her lunch special."

Emma then noticed a missed call on her phone. "It's David." She said. She played the message as we backtracked.

"*_Emma, it's David. I'm at the trail head and I think I found her- the Wicked Witch. I'm going after her._*"

Emma glanced at me with shock. "David's going up against her, alone?!"

I shook my head. "Let's hurry." I said, raising my hood. "I'd favor our chances better against the Wicked Bitch if we get there on the double."

* * *

Regina met us on the way there as she clambered into Emma's bug when we reached Granny's. My truck wasn't parked too far away in the lumber yard, and I caught up with them after I headed to where Zar parked it and drove off. I texted Jason while we were approaching the scene.

"Set up a search grid in Sector Three." I texted. "We may have Zelena."

Driving up to the trail's head, I saw David held at the throat by a figure in a torn, hooded cloak. But as soon as I was getting out, the figure fell back from his grip on David and burned up into ashes.

"David!" Emma cried as she rushed over. "You okay?"

David strained as he was recovering, but nodded.

"Well, where is she?" Said Regina.

David got up from the dirt. "It wasn't her." He said.

"Then who was it?" Said Hook. "You look whiter than a fresh sail."

"Myself." David answered.

"Come again?"

"Nightroot!" I exclaimed. "Of course!"

"What's that?" Said Emma.

"It's supposed to grow only in Sherwood Forest." I said. "Ingesting the flesh of Nightroot is said to help one overcome any and all fears they might have. I took some before, a long time ago, and it helped. Somewhat." I turned to David. "You didn't take any, did you mate?"

"No." Said David. "Not that I know of."

Regina understood. "It's the Witch." She said. "She's toying with us."

"Did you guys find where she might be hiding?" David asked.

"A farmhouse." Replied Hook. "And we think it's hers."

"Then let's end this." David said. "And send that Witch back to Oz."

* * *

"Is there any particular reason she would drug you with Nightroot?" I asked David as we headed back to the cars.

"No idea." He replied. "It was just there, wearing my face, harping on my deepest fears."

Regina stopped. "It knew your deepest fears?" She asked, concerned.

"Well, that's the point of Nightroot." I said. "The fears of whoever ingested it manifests into a demon that taunts and torments them with their biggest fears and won't stop until they face them. Most of the time the demon looks exactly like the person itself. Most of the time."

I was an exception. I know you can guess what form that demon chose when I took the Nightroot. Hint: I would sacrifice everyone I knew right then and there if it meant I could slash her throat and gouge her eyes out.

"That's exactly it." Said David. "It knew things I never told anyone, not even Mary Margaret. It wasn't until I admitted them that I was able to defeat it by stabbing it with the hilt of my sword."

"W-where is it?" Stuttered Regina. "Your sword?"

"That's the strange part." David replied, confused by what he was recalling. "After I killed it, the hilt it...disappeared."

"So what does this mean?" I asked.

"When we face our deepest fears," explained Regina. "Our true courage comes out. When you used the hilt of your sword to vanquish your fears, your courage transferred into it."

"Then why'd it disappear?" Asked David.

"It didn't disappear." Regina said. "She took it."

Now Emma and I were both confused. But she beat me to asking it. "Hang on, the Wicked Witch stole his courage?"

"Well, a symbol of it, at least." Replied Regina. "And symbols can be powerful totems."

* * *

When we returned to the farmhouse, Emma realized something as she saw the lock on the storm cellar door. It was broken.

"The lock!" She said. "It wasn't busted before!"

Hook drew his sword, and Emma her gun, while I extended my blades. Whatever was down there was to be reckoned with.

"Ready?" She said.

David swung open the cellar door as we descended into the pit.

"So far, so good." Said Hook as we entered.

"Everyone stay alert, come on." Emma warned.

"Aye aye, Captain." I muttered.

"There's definitely dark magic down here." Regina said with dread. "Can you feel it?"

Emma shrugged nervously. "I don't know, maybe. Whatever I feel, it's not good."

"Can we just shut up about magic, right now?" I snapped. "The key is there's a threat, and a target. That's all there is to it."

The cellar had a few shelves lining around the edge of the room, but most of it was occupied by a massive cage, with over half of it hidden in the shadows.

"What would a Wicked Witch keep in a cage, monkeys?"

David saw something in the cage that my eyes hadn't yet adjusted enough to see. "No, not monkeys." He said. He pulled the chain above us.

The cage flooded with light, and I groaned at what I saw inside. A large spinning wheel, with small pieces of freshly spun gold littering the floor of the cage. It could only mean one person. One who I was told was dead less than twelve hours ago.

David picked up one of the pieces of gold. "Now how many people do we know, who can spin straw into gold?" He said.

"Rumplestiltskin." Said Emma.

I thought I saw the faintest hint of a smirk on Regina's face as I slammed my fist into the wall beside me.

"Shit!" I yelled out. "Bugger all!"

"Asgeir!" Emma jumped. "Are you okay?"

"No!" I snapped. "I had about enough of that arsehole, and he comes back from the dead. And speaking of, HOW?!"

* * *

Returning to the Bunker, I called together a quick meeting for the important Assassins. Matthew, Jason, Zar, Keif, and several high ranking members from the Enchanted Forest branch were all there.

"The Imp's still alive!" I said, angrily.

There were murmurs between the other members as Matthew spoke up.

"You serious?" He said. "What's the proof?"

I tossed the proof onto the table. The gold straw skittered across the floor, making a loud clattering noise.

Jason picked it up and looked close at it. "Asgeir's right." He said. "This is all the proof we need. What say we put out a secondary objective on Gold?"

"Fair enough." Matthew replied. "But we need to make sure we have eyes on Zelena at all times. Set up monitoring that farmhouse within 24 hours, and set up a search grid looking for both Zelena and Gold. Adjourned."


	15. Chapter 15: Past: A Man of Two Names

**A/N: Ok, so now it's time for me to discuss what's going on in the current episodes, because I feel we gotta talk about that!**

**First off, both Snow and Charming are ticking me off, and I really want to punch both of them in the face. It's one thing to banish a baby to another realm, but to excuse their actions and not take responsibility for that is beyond unforgivable. I might even say I was hoping for Lily to burn them in the latest episode. Maybe.**

**What seems the obvious course of action is that Asgeir and the Arendelle Assassins go back to Arendelle with Elsa and Anna to fight Hans and his brothers. I am going to put it into much more detail making it work like how Ezio fought the Borgia to free Rome from their grip, because I personally don't feel it was a satisfying end to Elsa and Anna's story arc. They pretty much wrapped the whole thing up in five minutes with a cute reference to the movie, and that was it. Despite both Elsa being one of the most complex characters this season (and in Disney history) and the amazing performance done by Elizabeth Lail (Anna). Seriously, they couldn't have found a better actress to portray the role. So why couldn't they really send them off with something better than that? Or even better, why not keep them both around like they did for Hook?  
**

**I am torn on having Asgeir return to Storybrooke with one or two of his brothers after they take back Arendelle so they can help fight against Rumplestiltskin and the Queens of Darkness. If you feel that it's a good course of action to have him in that half of the season, then let me know in a PM or review. I do think that it would be a natural fit for him to have met Lily at some point during the 30 years he spent wandering the realms. Both of them were castaways at the time, and both have huge conflictions with the darkness in their hearts. It makes perfect sense.**

**There is one thing I am going to change about the show because it's only made me more mad that they did it a few episodes ago, and I know Asgeir wouldn't have let it happen if her was there.**

**Overall, I liked this season of Once, but they really need to have something good happen this Sunday on the season finale if they want this season to be better than it was previously. Ranked, Seasons 1 and 3 tie for the best season, and season 2 is second place. Season 4 isn't all that great with the moral gray subjects this half of the season that really feel forced in (with Snow and Charming doing unspeakable acts, making the villains look better than they are, and Emma turning dark) and a really hateable villain in Ingrid. Seriously, she's almost as hateful as King Joffery. Probably just as nuts. So with Asgeir's presence, some things are going to change. If you think that he would be a good fit for the subject on the middle ground of good and evil (that does make sense now that I think about it), let me know in a PM or review.**

**And to answer I review I got in an email, who was wondering about Desmond and the modern day Assassins, here's the answer: by this time in the AC Universe, Desmond is dead. It's been a few months since he sacrificed himself back in AC3, but other than that appearance by William Miles at the beginning of Sequence 2, most of the modern day Assassins don't have that much involvement with Asgeir from here on out. However he did have a history that involved working at the Farm in North Dakota, fighting alongside William, and even training Desmond at one point. Like I said before, Asgeir has been through a lot of shit since Arendelle froze. A lot happens in thirty years.**

**This chapter also has an element of foreshadowing for my next project concerning Asgeir after I finish Faith. Trust me when I say it's going to be epic.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Past- A Man of Two Names

I learned something very important in the thirty years that I spent exiled from Arendelle: The person that does not respect his enemies' intentions is just as bad as them. We all fight for what we believe in, and no doubt some of the people I fought had perfectly good reasoning behind why they were doing such things. But the one exception to this ruling is if the person's enemies do the unspeakable actions for ambitions and personal amusements. I saw it in Regina, I saw it in Rumplestiltskin, and I even saw it in King George. All of them had darkness in their hearts that none of them had good reasoning behind why they did what they did. But the one person I saw it the most in was someone that when I saw him, I became convinced he wasn't even a man at all anymore. He was once a good man with a fountain of knowledge for a head. But he wasn't know for that head of knowledge. He was only a Mad King.

* * *

Six months passed after I split up with Red and Snow, making it almost a year since Arendelle had frozen over. While I saw both of them on a few occasions, with the meets taking place around the cabin that we found, I generally only saw them both about once a month each for a while. Snow started learning from me how to shoot a bow properly as she settled into her place there, and began learning how to survive with the skills that I started passing onto her.

As for me, I reunited with my fellow Assassins in helping them find a new home. It was true that there was a force of about five hundred Assassins, all of them faced similar fates to the one that the force of fifty four Arendelle Assassins did: our kingdoms ravaged by threats too great to take on, and our homes reduced to piles of rubble. Almost all Assassins in the Enchanted Forest lived the lives of Nomads, and the ones that had their own homes were constantly on their toes, almost as if they were waiting precisely for the axe to drop.

The Summer Solstice meant an annual meeting for as many Assassins as we could muster up together. I counted a good two hundred make their way in and out the outpost that day, and that was it.

This meeting for Assassins usually meant we would start with the important question to any Nomad who was on the verge of their whole world cracking to pieces: Does anyone want out? With dread, I saw three brothers lay down their arms. None of us liked doing it, but after the Great Colonial Purge two hundred years ago, this became a regular procedure, and some of us didn't have a choice when it came to that. It would boil down to either laying down our blades and taking up lives in solitude away from all the fighting, or die at the hands of some Templar twat.

While three may not sound like a lot compared to how many we had in total across the realms, it's still a huge loss when we have trouble even finding new recruits to become Novices.

* * *

After the meeting, Matthew, Jason and I gathered at the nearby tavern to discuss what we could do as our former Branch's only Masters available.

"Still no sign of Zar?" I asked.

"We sent him to the Land Without Color five weeks ago. I'd like to send some help for him, but he asked specifically that we don't intervene."

"What the hell was he even doing there?" Jason asked.

"He requested that he be the one to kill the newly crowned Vampire Queen there. He's the best I ever saw when it came to killing monsters as dangerous as that."

I shook my head with worry. "This Branch is doomed. We don't know where Zar is, the brothers Troy and Rabbit are frozen along with…" I trailed off remembering that look on Anna's face when Ingrid froze her. Jason patted me on the shoulder.

"What we need is drastic measures, Mentor." Jason said.

"I agree." Replied Matthew. "King George is becoming increasingly active in hunting us down now that his son has been betrothed to King Midas' daughter. It's beyond clear why the marriage is happening."

"Gold." I spat. "King George's debts will be wiped clean if he brokers an alliance with the Magic Touch."

"Exactly. And with the future of his kingdom slowly becoming more and more secure, he wants to tie up any and all remaining loose ends on us. That means we can expect a huge move soon enough."

"So we need to come up with our own preemptive attack."

"And that is where you come in, Asgeir." Matthew said, slamming his fist down onto the table, his finger pointed to me. "We need to get rid of our biggest oncoming threat, and in the process, we could scare Midas away from the deal."

"I'm killing someone, aren't I?" I said, knowing very well who it might be.

"Prince James is George's shining beacon for the future. If you kill him, and get close enough to Abigail that she panics, it could make Midas back out of the alliance with George. Abigail is only a princess-"

"And truth be told, a cowardly little bitch." Put in Jason.

"Sounds simple enough. But I've never seen this Prince James, or even a portrait of him. How will I know what he looks like?"

"It's not something we have much access to at the moment, unfortunately. I saw him once before, but it was a long time ago. His face remains in my mind's eye, but I can't describe it best enough that you can understand. All I know is that George is having guards watch his son in every waking second. You'll know you're getting close when the guards increase in density."

"Then I best be off." I said. I glimpsed at Jason. "And you?"

Jason tugged at his rifle on his back. "Matthew is having me go to Corona and see if I can't negotiate with Rapunzel and her husband. Having political support like we did with Elsa would be a start on picking up the pieces of our former glory."

"Finding and slashing Ingrid's throat open would be better." I growled, mostly to myself.

"It might" Matthew said. "But all the same, what we need is to make moves we know will work, and not take gambles. Remember that as long as I'm still breathing, Asgeir, I am Mentor, and what I say goes."

The statement caught me off guard, but I nodded. "I know you're Mentor, Matthew. I only meant as a Master's suggestion."

"You're above revenge, Asgeir." He replied. "No matter what you do to Ingrid, it won't bring Elsa and Anna back from the dead."

"Of course not." I stood up, raising my hood. "But it'll bring back what little humanity they gave me."

* * *

Traveling to the last known location of Prince James was easier than I expected. I realized with the amount of soldiers I encountered on my way to King George's palace that he had pushed the bulk of his army towards protecting his son. I had never seen him with such dedication for his son before. He must have been really important.

"Well, the kingdom wasn't bankrupt until a year ago." I said to myself as I was skinning a rabbit at my camp on the way. Dinner.

It was quite a surprise for everyone in the realm when the catalyst for George's bankruptcy came around. One day things were going smoothly between him and Queen Regina, and the next, she cuts off all trade between her kingdom and his. This was a lot like what Elsa did to the Duke of Weasel Town, but the difference was that she had a very good reason for it.

I had heard that after I killed him, the Duke's granddaughter took up her rightful place as Duchess and ended up bringing her town to a much better position in our eyes. She never once interacted with any Templars, no matter what they asked of her.

The castle was heavily guarded as I scouted the area for myself when I arrived. The castle almost always had three guards to a turret, and about one every twenty feet along the walls. Now I saw twice that many on the turrets, and three times on the walls. Gods know how many were inside. I knew George was desperate, but I didn't think that this level was even possible with him. I itched at my chest, my backup plan underneath my coat.

Three guards were posted at a checkpoint about five hundred meters from the main gate, and the castle lay on a small island on the edge of a massive lake with a bridge connecting it to the gate, the shoreline and the checkpoint. An alarm bell was inside the booth, but it looked like I could sabotage it if I was quick enough. Two of the knights were outside the checkpoint booth, and one of them was seated inside in the safety with a plate glass window cutting him off. The knight inside wasn't talking to the others outside, so my money was that they couldn't hear him. That meant the window was isolating him enough that sleep or berserk gas couldn't get in. I had those grenades on me, and it would disperse quickly enough that I could leave no trace of the poison, or my presence as soon as I passed by. The other option was to use a shrapnel grenade and blow the whole checkpoint sky high. But what would that look to a passing knight? It was imperative that I not make my presence known to anyone at this castle until after I killed James. Then I could scare the living hell out of everyone there and make it known to King George that no matter how much he tried to crush us, the Assassins would never yield against the likes of him.

The only option I could see was sneaking around them without killing any of them, but even then, I would run the risk of getting spotted too soon. Circling around as far as I could, I ended up discovering that there was a way of using the support beams under the bridge as monkey bars, almost. I just needed to find a way to get there. The bush I was hiding in was at the start of a bank in the landscape. At a certain angle, I was a few degrees below the underside of the bridge. I just needed to get there quick enough.

It just goes to show me that revenge can do a lot of things to people, but the last thing that you'd expect it to really do to you is forget the kind of access you have to using the environment to your advantage. In the year since Ingrid had frozen Arendelle (I began referring to this as my own timeline. People use the terms B.C.E and C.E. I now used A.F, which meant After Freeze. Ergo, we were in 1 A.F), I hadn't used the rope function on my Rope Blade. Despite some of our beyond human abilities, every one of us Assassins are still human, and still creatures of habit. Hell, aside from that time that I slammed into the wall like a fly on a windshield when I first got the Rope Blades, I barely used the rope function. But now I was remembering how cleanly and quickly I flew across that room, and now was considering trying that again. I turned the Assassin symbol on my blade two clicks, and then aimed. Flicking my wrist, the Rope Blade shot out of the bracer and with another flick, I was perched on one of the cross beams, the underside of the bridge just a few feet above me. I leapt forwards and started into the castle.

It would have been easier to break into Fort Knox compared to this amount of security. The smallest amount of guards on their own was as little as seven. Most castles have one or two guards on their own, but this was entirely ridiculous. As I came closer and closer to James, jumping up into the light fixtures almost every time a group of guards came around, the guard activity increased to levels of insanity. Eventually I heard my chance.

"Let's go. The prince isn't going anywhere, and he's insisting we leave him be."

"You sure? King George himself said we need to be keeping a careful eye on _this_ son with what happened."

This son? What was he talking about?

"It's fine. He's proven already he's not gonna run on us. And even if he will, we got over a hundred and fifty guarding this wing alone. There's no way he's gonna escape."

As soon as the guards were gone, I dropped down from the light fixture.

"No, he won't be gone." I said, turning towards the door. "Not in that sense, is what I mean. He'll be gone-gone."

Kicking in the door would be an easy way to get the guards running for this room with the ruckus. I would have to try opening it more carefully. I reached out slowly for the doorknob, and then opened it as slow as I could. James was sitting right on his bed with his back to me, writing in a small notebook on his leg. I took three steps before lunging over the bed, and putting my blade to his throat.

"Say cheese, you shite!" I said, about to slash him in the throat.

This guy wasn't expecting it, but he did grab me and flip me forwards until I was facing the ceiling on the ground. He looked down at me.

"Connor?!" He said in shock.

I got up, looked at him, and then rubbed my eyes. "David?!"

* * *

Five minutes ago I was going to kill the man who I thought was the son of the Templar King hellbent on destroying my brothers and me. Now I was staring straight on at the man who I helped over a year ago. He looked much different, with his clean shaven face and new haircut, but it really was him.

"What are you doing here?!" I said.

"Could ask the same of you." David replied. "From the looks of it, I'm guessing James was not on the best of terms with the Assassins?"

David was only confusing me more with that question. But there was no time. I was hearing the whispers, which suggested that the guards were on their way right now. They probably heard something, or King George had another fit of angry paranoia. I needed to act fast.

I pulled out a dagger from my belt and tossed it to David. He fumbled with it as he caught it, and looked at me, puzzled.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

I replied by outstretching my arms, as though this Templar Prince was about to crucify me. "Make Daddy proud." I said.

David was astonished. I was telling him to kill me right after I tried to do the same to him.

"Do it." I said. "Then get them to burn me. Find where they dump my body, and then we'll talk when we have privacy."

David started asking what the hell I was talking about, but by then, we both could hear the footsteps of at least ten guards charging down the hallway. There was no time to explain, and he knew it. They were just opening the door as I turned and fell down into David's arms, and the knife to my throat to make it look like he was grabbing me from behind.

The guards opened the door as I started struggling against David's grip, which was now as tight as I wanted him to be at. He was catching on.

"Prince James, sir!" said one of the guards. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Said David. "Found this Assassin scum almost put this knife in my throat."

"You said he made it through?"

The door opened further as three more guards stepped in with their overlord. King George walked up with his scowl on his face as he sneered at me.

"Master Asgeir Swortssen." He snarled. "It truly has been a while. I thought I saw the last of you after you blew up that steel mine and stole those workers from me."

I smiled a little as I tried getting out of David's grip, but he still kept hold of me, as I was hoping he would. "Those weren't workers, George." I said. "Those were slaves taken out of their homes as prisoners for not being able to pay their damned taxes! Two of them wore the hood after I broke their chains. They'd be real happy to have the chance I have of cutting your high-horse bollocks off."

King George narrowed his eyes even more at me. "You really should be careful what you say in front of me, you little thief. My son might even have the decency to put you out of your misery right here and now. That wouldn't be a problem, would it James?" He said to his "son".

"No, father. I will take the life of the man who tried to kill me."

I started whimpering. "Oh no!" I cried. "Mercy, sir! I did not mean it! I was only trying to TAKE APART THIS BULLSHIT ROYAL LINE, PIECE BY PIECE!"

David pressed the knife harder against my neck. It stung, but it still wasn't enough to break the skin. Nothing would be.

"Go ahead!" I snarled. "Do it! I dare you! You don't have the balls to do it! I bet you can't even stab me right in the heart! You do it, and the Assassins will take you all down! I swear it!"

I couldn't see David's face, but I understood what he was thinking judging by George's expression. He was glaring at the man he was claiming was his son. "What are you waiting for, James? This man tried to kill you, and you want to spare him? Take his life for the proud souls he has taken from me, and you will make me proud."

I spat right in George's face as he said this. He reared back in shock. "Fuck you!" I snapped.

George angrily wiped the saliva off his face, and then lunged forwards and punched me in the face.

"I said kill him, James." He growled.

I smirked as I felt gravity push the weight of my tired neck on David's arm. "You think you've won, George? You may take my life, but we will have yours. I swear it. We-"

David pushed the knife right into my chest. Blood spilled out violently as I felt the weight of it leave my coat. I fell down onto the floor at George's feet, one last breath leaving my mouth. I did my best to lay still and not move my eyes as George looked down at me.

"May the Father of Understanding burn you, bastard."

"Who was that, Father?" I heard David ask.

"A thorn in my side for far too long. Take him to the bridge and dump the body into the lake."

The feet in front of me that belonged to George started walking towards the door before I heard David speak again. "Wait, Father." He said.

George turned. "Yes, my son?" He said.

David cleared his throat. "Wouldn't it be a much more appropriate fate if we had the guards burn the body, then dump him and all the other dead prisoners in the lake? These Assassins are known for their deception. We should ensure he's dead first."

It would make things much more difficult to talk to David if they dumped me there, but he probably had a plan already as I did. I just wanted to get my questions answered, and I'm sure he would as well.

"Good thinking, son." I heard George say. He said nothing else, but more than likely nodded to the guard that then picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder as they hauled what they thought was a dead body away.

* * *

"Killed three of my friends, you did. Assassin bastard." The guard who carried the torch said triumphantly as he stood above me. "Glad to know that justice was carried out the right way. This new guy as James may save us yet.

The guard took my hood and weapons, thankfully. I only hoped that this worked as I expected it to be. I was invulnerable to bites by werewolves and blades, but what about fire? That I hadn't tested yet. I kept my pretending dead eyes as open as I could as the guard lowered the torch onto my body.

I must have blacked out, because next thing I knew, I was seeing darkness and feeling cold all around me, with what felt like a rope tied around my right ankle. I felt dirty ashes all around me, and aside from the cold I was feeling around me, I felt as though I was on fire, but with no pain. Whatever had happened to me that prevented me from sustaining wounds of any kind, or at the very least, dying, not even fire could have stopped. I kept thinking back on Ingrid. She had hit me with everything she had on me. She slashed my eyes open with an ancient curse meant to torture the soul to sorrowful rage, and then froze my divided heart. Something told me that this created an unpredictable result, and I was feeling it right now. I hadn't breathed for three hours, and as I saw the boat above me row away, I started slowly sinking towards the bottom of the lake. I was practically standing on the lake's floor within another hour, which passed by about as fast as a week. I started wondering if David really was going to find me before I was going to have to start swimming back up, when I felt the rope tug. I froze and waited as the pull turned me upside down and started pouring water down my sinuses. If you think holding your breath is easy when you can't drown, then you don't know how hard it became when David was so kind to give me a sinus wash. The surface finally hit as the roughness of the sand and dirt rubbed against my bare chest.

"My gods." David said as he kneeled down to check on me. "You survived that. How?!"

I coughed as I sat up. David handed me a towel, my hood, and weapons. I literally had no clothes on, because when was the last time a king was kind enough to dump dead prisoners and let them keep their clothes?

"Long story." I said. "But why don't we start with a rule. I'll ask a question, then you ask one, and so on."

"Fine." Said David. "Me first, Connor. Or is it Asgeir: Why did you try to kill me earlier tonight?"

"It's Asgeir. Like me and Joan said, we used aliases to protect you and your mother. You saw your father back there. He would have had me killed right then and there, and he would have enjoyed it immensely. But back on your question: It's this deal your father made with King Midas." I replied. "If George and Midas secure the alliance with your marriage to that blonde bitch Abigail, then he'll have the finances to erase his debts and wipe the Assassins clean off the face of the earth. The job I was given was to sneak in, kill Prince James, and then scare the living daylights out of Abigail so she'd go crying to her father, and it would be enough to spook him into backing out of the deal. But things got a little more complicated when I found out my target was the same man who saved me and my sister's lives over a year ago."

"Yeah, I reckon that would change things." He said, sitting down in the sand next to me.

"So that brings me to my first question: why are you here?" I asked.

"It was a deal my mother made many years ago." He said. "I was born a twin to another boy. The one who my mother gave away, and Rumplestiltskin gave to King George to raise as his own son. I don't know everything that my brother did before he died, but I am more than sure from half of what I heard that he wasn't the best person out there. But his arrogance got him killed, and well, I'm now in his place. Marrying this girl who I barely know to save this kingdom, and in turn my mother."

"How does this save Ruth?" I asked.

"King George is desperate." He replied. "This may be his last hope of putting his kingdom back into its former glory. But if I refuse this deal, then he'll have both my mother and I killed. It's why I have to keep up this charade. For how long, I have no idea. Maybe for the rest of my days."

"Jaysus, mate. That's rough."

"My turn: how did you survive all that? I stabbed you, then they burned your body, and if that didn't kill you, drowning definitely would have."

I nodded. "After Joan and I left your farm, we went back to Arendelle, only to find the Queen there was friends with someone who we thought was dead. She was a very powerful witch, who saw us as a threat for some reason. She attacked both my sister and the Queen, and froze the kingdom. My only family is dead. Before I escaped, she threw the worst curses she could conjure towards me. They weren't supposed to mix, and they made an unpredictable result that has now made it physically impossible for me to die. It's been like that for me for almost a year now."

David was amazed. "Wow…" He muttered.

"I've known about my affliction for little over half a year now, and I had came prepared for this in case I got caught trying to kill you. While it's impossible for me to sustain wounds, I've found other ways to create the illusion of death. That blood you saw spill out of me was blood I had taken out of my system a few months ago so that I could use the invulnerability to my advantage. I can bleed if I forcefully keep the wound open, so draining my blood out like that with some of our tools wasn't a problem. I had hidden a large pressurized bag in my coat to make it look like it died. More pressurized it gets, the more dramatic the blood splatters. After that, the rest was easy. Nothing can kill me now, so making them think that I was dead was easy enough with the right illusions."

"Fair enough." Said David. "You had the opportunity, and in the process helped my 'father' trust me a little more. He thinks you're at the bottom of the lake right now."

"George isn't the only one going desperate right now." I said. "Arendelle has completely frozen over, and the Assassins from there are either dead, or on the run from your father's forces. This was so much easier back when we had Queen Elsa's political support."

David shook his head, but then his eyes lit up as he started to smile. "What do you need of me?"

I glimpsed at him, amazement hitting me like a rock. "I came here to stop King George's deal from going down by killing his only hope, but I got something even better!" I said.

"You helped me stop Bo Peep before, so now I get to return the favor. Whatever you need from me, I'll do what I can."

I stood up, pulling my hood on and strapping my weapons on. "I'm not sure where to even start, David." I said. "I'll have to bring this to Matthew, my Mentor."

David pulled out a yellowed piece of cloth and held it out. It bore the Assassin insignia. "You told me to draw this symbol onto a letter if I needed anything out of you." He said. "I will write to your Mentor, and we will establish an alliance from the inside. I'll give you everything I know about George's plans, in return for protection in case he finds out about my motives. I've taken a big enough risk coming down here to talk. If I'm gone much longer, he'll suspect I'm running away."

I nodded. "We can absolutely make that work." I said. "You'll be hearing from us very soon."

David and I shook hands, and I turned to start walking away.

"Nothing is True…" I heard David say. I turned and saw him with his fist over his heart.

I smiled. "Everything is Permitted…" I replied, putting my own fist over my heart. I turned and continued walking away, with optimism in my heart for the first time in months as well as ice.

* * *

The rules of the Order have changed many times over in the last thousand years. Ezio and Altair made their changes by teaching us that there were more ways to achieve the justice we sought by thinking outside the box. The biggest lesson I learned from Ezio was that killing people like George and the Duke would only be building more powder to the keg unless there was another we could put into their shoes to help. I went in expecting to kill the son of King George, and emerged with my third deadliest adversary believing I was dead, and a plan finally emerging. With David's help, we would know everything we needed to take down George, and we would do our part by ensuring that none of the treachery landed at his feet until the time was right.

I'm proud to say that even I changed the rules once. We once believed that kings and queens couldn't be people we could work together to build a proper society untouched by greed and corruption. With Elsa and Anna at my back, I showed my own brothers at arms that there was a way we could fight alongside them. While we were back to square one, at least the pieces were now reset for another try. And this time, I would be the one to call checkmate.


	16. Chapter 16: Quiet Minds

**A/N: I don't mean to have the large gaps in updating these days, but things get in the way a lot. Things have been very busy at my new job, and it takes time for me to write new chapters. However, it does look likely that I might have the next chapter out next week, so look out for that.**

**The season finale was awesome, and it has convinced me to make my decision. Asgeir WILL appear in the last half of Season 4, ready willing and able. I wasn't sure on wether or not to write him in it, because I have an exciting sequel/spinoff in plans to make when this is done.**

**Hopefully you like this new chapter as we see more of what Asgeir aims to do to those that wronged him.**

* * *

Chapter 16: Quiet Minds

In my long experience of living in several realms on the front lines of the war of the Assassins and Templars, I became a huge fan of popular culture in the Land Without Magic. Many of the Assassins did, as it turned out. Films and programs on television I partook in when I wasn't getting shot at by Abstergo, and many times I was even required to read some novels believed by many to purely be works of fiction, only for us to find out that their worlds truly did exist, as did some equivalents of Assassins and Templars in that world.

What became a personal favorite film of mine is now probably a regular household name for a movie: Fight Club. It's themes of anarchism, psychological issues and just how broken the system truly was spoke out to me as closely as any struggle between an Assassin and Templar war. It became a favorite of mine when I saw it in the theater while I was in California working with the IRA. Almost found that I was suffering from problems very similar to Edward Norton's character. And as I would soon find out, I was beginning to suffer a very severe case of sleepwalking and blackouts not entirely unlike Norton's character's struggles in the movie. Every year after Arendelle froze became another catalyst towards my struggles that only made my involvement with the Assassins become worse and worse. I was seeing evil in every direction while under the influence of what afflicted me, and not just in Templars. I was becoming more and more paranoid that I was losing friends in other Assassins, with me believing I was the sole survivor of the Dark Curse, let alone the Arendelle Assassins. Imagine having to start over, with everyone you know ripped from your hands, and you're forced into another group who claimed to have the same goals, but whose actions prove otherwise. Every Assassin who I grew up with was swept up in the curse, staying behind to let me finish what they started in the Land Without Magic. Matthew, Jason, Zar, Troy and Rabbit. All gone.

The thing about putting that much pressure on a man, is that no matter how strong he is, no matter how determined he is to seek the end of his struggles, eventually even his own brothers he was sent to see him as a threat, and not someone worth fighting with. It was my increased anger at what I had seen in my extended life that drove me over the edge. The higher Assassins sent me across several realms to fight in their bullshit wars and ensure that this man would take this throne and that man would kill that man and such and such and such and such and-

The nightmares, the sleepwalking, the blackouts, they all became worse. And then the other Assassins did what all "brothers" do, even when they promise that they would follow you to the ends of the Earth: they turn on you, toss you out in the middle of nowhere, and take your hood with them.

* * *

"Asgeir? Wake up!"

I snapped my eyes open to the voice, and then felt myself fall a foot, hit something hard, and then fall another three feet onto the hard linoleum floor.

Once I recovered from the wind getting knocked out of me, I rubbed my eyes and wiped a bit of spit off the corner of my mouth. Made me think a lot about Anna as I sat up with my feet outstretched on the floor, my palms pressed on the tiled floor on either side.

Ruby stood above me in front of the door looking concerned with her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked.

I squinted my eyes, the morning daylight rushing through the door's window behind her. Nice to finally wake up inside instead of in a river or a tree.

"Can't a friend crash here or something?" I said, trying to disregard it.

"Not really." Ruby said as I got up. "You know we have an inn upstairs, right?"

"I'm aware." I replied. "I have my own room at Cormac's."

"Then why are you in here? More importantly, _how_ did you get in here? I found you asleep on the bar table, but Granny and I have the only keys."

I shook my head. "It's complicated, Ruby." I said. "But listen, if I broke any windows while trying to get in here, I'll pay for them."

"If?" She asked, curiously. Why wouldn't I know if I had broken any windows? "No, not that I know of. As far as I can see nothing was broken and you didn't take anything, so we're good."

"Ruby, you better get to-" said a gruff voice.

Granny was just walking in as she was ordering her granddaughter around, but she smiled when she saw me.

"Asgeir." She said. "Glad to see you again. Heard you were in town to help us on this witch hunt."

"Absolutely, Granny." I replied. "Us Assassins are never finished with our work."

Granny nodded. After meeting up with her again during the war against Regina, I learned that two of her older brothers were Assassin war heroes, and that's why she knew of them. "If you're lookin' for the Charmings, they said they're meeting here before we open. Might wanna stick around." She turned and walked back into the kitchen.

Ruby looked back at me suspiciously. "Something you're not telling me, Asgeir?"

"Lots of stuff." I replied. "For good reasons. If you'd have seen the shit I've seen, a case of nightly sleepwalking and nightmares would be the least you'd have suffered from."

I sat down at the bar table. "Can I get a cup of coffee, Red? Black."

* * *

The Charmings, Regina and Hook came a little while later, and soon afterwards Emma came in after pounding on the door furiously. Granny opened it for her.

"If you want privacy, talk fast. We open in 20." She explained. "And no one gets between Leroy and his bacon."

I smirked as Hook started.

"So any sign of our quarry?" He said.

"I went all around that farmhouse and the land around it." Emma said, doubtfully. "Nothing."

"Well, now that the sun's up we should hit every place Gold might go." David stated. Clearly the rest of them knew what to expect from this bugger imp after he ran from Zelena. "His house, shop, his cabin."

"I got teams of Assassins combing those woods with extreme precision." I said, the typical anger in my voice that was usually present whenever Rumplestiltskin was the subject. But no one really noticed it. "We'll find him."

"Right." Emma said with that dash of sarcasm I was getting used to coming from her. "Because dead men love vacation homes. Can someone explain to me how this is even possible? We all saw Gold he-"

"Disappeared into nothingness." Said Snow. "I know."

"Doesn't surprise me in the slightest now." I said.

Emma glimpsed at me. "How so? The White Reaper somehow knows a way to cheat death?"

At least Emma was starting to learn my reputation as an Assassin.

"Rumplestiltskin and I go far back. If there were one thing I know about the Imp, he wouldn't kill himself without some form of insurance. How he did that still escapes me at the moment."

I remembered reading almost every book on the Dark One in an effort to try and find a way to kill him without the Dagger. Somewhere among the thousands of manuscripts I had read, I had the faintest memory of something like this. I just couldn't remember all the details since the book was under ice in Arendelle's castle library.

"I might have an inkling." Replied Hook to my statement. Everyone looked up at him when he explained. "When we went back to the Enchanted Forest, Neil was talking about the possibility of getting his father back."

And here I thought Neil was just as angry with his father as I was. He told me himself that he was done with him when we first met many years ago. I wished I knew what it was that had changed his mind. Must have been pretty recent.

"What?" Said David. "How?"

"He didn't say." Hook replied. "He just..." He had a brief moment looking towards Emma. "He missed his family. And he was desperate to find a way to return to this world. He believed that bringing his father back was the key."

Emma shook her head. "Well, if that was his plan, then obviously something went wrong, because while Gold might be alive and kicking, Neil is-" She stopped herself.

I could only imagine life would be cruel enough to take one of the most ruthless souls in this life back from the dead and take one of the bravest in return.

"He's- we don't know what he is." Said Emma. "We don't even know if he made it back to Storybrooke! No one's seen him since this new Curse."

"He's out there, Emma." I said. "Don't worry."

Regina piped up. "With all due respect," she put in. "We have bigger issues right now than who brought Gold back, the fact that he was in the Wicked Witch's basement for one. I want to know what the hell she was cooking up with him."

"Well, the best way to find that out would be to ask Gold, right?" Snow said.

"He could tell us who the Witch is." Said David. "Maybe how to track her down."

Zelena was an Assassin problem just as much as she was a threat to the town. It would be my job to expose what she was doing before I gutted her myself, and in order to have complete security for that operation, I had to keep it secret from everyone. Until Zelena started dropping heads, there was no real bad reason to keep it all under wraps.

Regina stood up. "I gonna head back to that farmhouse." She said. "It's possible this witch left behind some trace of potion or special ingredient."

Emma nodded. "Have at it. Just be careful."

Regina smirked. "She's the one who needs to be careful." She said, boldly. "She invaded my space. When I return the favor I'm not pulling any punches."

I held up a hand. "Regina, just don't make any sudden movements when your outside the house. Goddamned snipers are all around the cottage with shoot on sight orders to anything out of the ordinary. The former Templar Grand Master definitely applies to that."

Regina nodded as she opened the door. "You Assassins and extremes measures." She snarked, although in a much more friendly tone than she usually spoke to me with.

* * *

After setting up the search grid and dispatching the Assassins to comb the woods for Gold, Jason and I headed over to the pawn store, where Emma had told us to meet.

"Are the weapons really necessary?" Said Emma as we approached. She was waiting for us as the door.

Jason had an AK slung over his shoulder along with most of his other usual weapons, and I myself had everything I carried on my person as well. Needless to say, this was not the first we had of uncomfortable glances, since none of the Assassins had taken any efforts to even try to hide their weapons in their hoodies or somewhere.

Jason raised his hands slightly. "You and I haven't seen eye to eye on much, Swan. But I'm hoping that we can still let bygones be bygones. Asgeir is a mutual friend here."

Emma crossed her arms, apparently waiting for something, but then nodded. "Just be careful around my son. He still has no idea what's going on."

I kept silent as Jason replied. "Of course. You know I have a tender spot for dear Henry."

As we walked in, Jason noticed my look of confusion. "When Emma first arrived here, she and I faced off hard when Graham deputized her. I may not have been the head of this gun running operation, but she saw me as the biggest threat regardless."

"Who were you here?" I asked.

"Aaron Milburn. Bartender at Cormac's by day, shipment guard by night."

* * *

Of all people to be reunited with, Belle was one of the last I expected to find so soon. She sat at the table in the back room, staring at the piece of gold straw I had swiped as the others explained the circumstances of Rumplestiltskin's return. I sat off to the side, trying hard not to purposely break anything that looked expensive since the store belonged to him. And from the look of the room and the shop, the word "expensive" seemed to factor into almost everything in the room. I just sat down while Jason kept eyeing me suspiciously, like a fly on the wall. I had still been very vague from the circumstances surrounding my demons, and why I was really here.

"So…Rumple's alive?" Belle asked, still finding difficulty believing it. "I mean, how is that even possible?"

"We were hoping you might be able to tell us that." Emma replied. "You know him and the shop better than anyone. If he's here in Storybrooke, there has to be a clue in here about how he got back and how we can find him, now that he is."

Hold on. _Belle_ knew Rumplestiltskin better than anyone? The same Belle that Anna had helped to find the trolls? The same Belle that I had last seen trying to track down a Yaoguai? I know I missed a lot during this gap, but every day was bringing more and more surprise to me. And barely any of it was good.

Belle nodded. "Yeah, I'll…" She sniffed. "I'll start looking right away."

"Keep your eyes out for him, too." David warned. "If he comes into town-"

"He'll come to me." Finished Belle. "Yeah, I know."

Okay, now I know that I missed plenty. A friend of mine was now fucking an enemy. I escaped a Dark Curse, only to end up at the bottom of a hole while all kinds of mayhem ensued outside it. Just perfect.

Emma then nodded to Hook, and he understood. Hesitantly, he offered his help to Belle.

"I will stay here with you." He offered. "I'm surprisingly good at research."

Belle looked up at him, a mixed look of disbelief and slight anger. "You will stay with me?" She repeated.

"He'll protect you, if the Witch comes." Emma explained.

Belle faced back at us and dropped another shell shocker on me, although this time I just decided to roll with them. "You do know he tried to kill me?" She said.

Hook slightly shrugged, trying to play it off. "Well, there were extenuating circumstances." He said.

"Twice."

He shook his head, trying to climb out of that hole. "Sorry?" He offered, cocking his head to the side.

I smirked. "You're quite the charmer, Captain." I said.

"This will be my way of making it up to you." He continued, still trying to patch up the festering wounds.

Belle scowled. "Fine." She said.

Emma nodded. "Alright." She said. "We should really get out into the woods." She glimpsed at me and I nodded, pulling my radio off my belt.

"Alpha and Charlie teams mobilize." I said into it. "Locate the Imp."

Snow started to stand, but David stopped her. "Hey, maybe you should stay home." He said.

Snow didn't like that idea. "Me?" She protested. "But I'm the best tracker here!"

I scoffed. "That's debatable. Do you have the Sight?"

David nodded to me, then glanced at his wife. "Asgeir's right. He can help us just fine along with Jason. Remember what Zelena said. You need your rest."

Snow glimpsed at me, then raised her hands, giving up. Emma just shrugged and stood up.

"Belle, thank you for your help." She said, the brunette turning towards her. "Don't worry, we're going to find him."

Belle smiled. "Okay. Thank you."

Then she looked at me. "Nice to see you again, Asgeir." She said.

I nodded. It was upsetting enough that she was with someone so close to the top of my list, but the last time I saw her, it meant another would hate me for what I did.

* * *

While the Assassins out in the field kept combing the woods for Rumplestiltskin and Zelena, Jason and I returned to the Bunker to go over our heavy guns. Assault rifles, SMGs and handguns were small enough that we could ship them by the bulk in crates of whatever numbers we chose. But as Jason was explaining to me as we went over the belts of ammunition for LMGs, some guns like PKPs, M60s and RPGs were so big that they had to be shipped one at a time, and Cormac's customers had such a high demand for the big guns, that we had a very limited supply of them. I counted only six RPGs between the fifty-plus Assassins operating here in Storybrooke.

Jason slung his AK off his shoulder as he counted the bullets on an LMG belt.

"What do we have in terms of ammunition for these kinds of weapons?" I asked as I clicked in a rocket for an RPG.

"Depends on the kind of objective, really. I mean, the amount we have for ammunition isn't subjective, and I'd say that we'd have more than plenty heavy ammunition if we had a force of forty Assassins. Since it's fifty, most of us are using the more standard weapons. But for the others using stuff like this, we have a small outpost in the woods where we hide the other half of the heavy guns. I even remember us unpacking a few prototype Quadrotor drones."

"That's quite a step up from what we were using in my time under the IRA."

"It's easier for us to use this kind of hardware out here since this whole town is cut off from the rest of the world. And the drones we have may be prototypes, but they pack a serious punch."

I suddenly jumped when my phone started ringing. Jason looked over in interest as I answered.

"Yeah?" I said to Emma's voice on the other end. "You serious? Yeah. We'll be right over." I hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Jason asked. "We found the son of a bitch?"

"We haven't found the Imp, but Belle just found someone else. Neil."

* * *

Jason and I ran down the hallways of the hospital to the room where they were keeping Neil in the hospital. Emma and David had just arrived as well. He was several years older from when I last saw him, but I knew it was him the second I saw him.

"Neil!" Said Emma in a shock matching my own. "You're here. What happened?'

Neill rubbed his head. "I…I don't know. I remember seeing the yellow bug cross the town line, and next thing I know, I'm running around a forest back in Storybrooke, where, apparently a lot has been going on."

"Yeah, you pretty much summed it up, brother." I said.

Neil glimpsed at me. "Asgeir? Jeez, it's been a long time."

"That's the understatement of the decade, really." I replied.

Hook cut us off. "Are you going to tell him, or shall I?" He asked.

Neil looked up at us. "Tell me what?"

David piped up. "Neil, we think your dad's back."

Neil wasn't buying it. "Back?!" He said. "I just watched him die. What do you mean he's back?!"

Emma gently took Neil's hand in reassurance. "Take it easy." Then she stopped, glancing something on Neil's palm. It appeared to be a serious burn there, the swelling on his hand forming a triangle with three squiggly lines on each side of the shape. "The hell is that?" She asked.

Neil shook his head. "No idea. It was there when I woke up."

Okay, now I knew I had seen this shape before, and some fragments of that book I had read were starting to come back to me. That symbol had something to do with the hidden vault of the Dark One, where the very first Dark One was created. But that was all that I could remember for now. Emma held her phone up to the scar and took a picture of it.

"Belle, can you do some more research?" She asked.

Belle nodded. "Yeah, sure. Absolutely." She said.

"Great." Emma said. "I'll send you the picture." She tapped the screen a few times and sent it.

Neil looked up at us again. "Guys, can we have a minute?" He asked us.

I nodded and Jason and I walked out along with the rest of them.

"That burn is bothering me." I said to my brother when we were on our own. "I remember seeing that mark somewhere before."

Jason crossed his arms. "So what do we do?" He asked.

"For now, all we really can do is just continue searching the woods for Rumplestiltskin until Belle finds out what that mark means."

"Agreed." He replied. "I reckon that you should stay here right now and I'll check the farmhouse. The snipers we have posted there haven't checked in yet for today, but hopefully nothing too serious has happened."

* * *

After Emma and David left, I went back into Neil's room and sat down at the end of his bed.

"Asgeir, I'm still confused." He said. "All this time you're still alive? We promised that we'd meet six months from then. That was more than nine years ago."

I nodded. "I know, mate. And it's complicated. All I really can tell you is that the Assassins dragged me into another war in another realm. Had to stop a madman from burning his kingdom to the ground."

"But after all we'd been through, I was only hoping that we were still more than just friends. Brothers, even." He said.

I leaned towards Neil in my chair. "Neil, I will offer you a piece of advice. I learned many things in the past few years, the most important from a ghost from the past. I've seen images that haunt me more than anything because my own blood was killed by a freak witch when I failed to act. But somehow I was contacted by an ancestor that taught me what the Assassins truly mean. None of my brothers here know of what the Assassins out there in the rest of the world even did to me. So my advice: you don't mean shit to your brothers. I mean, sure they'll always say they'll have your back. But then, when you need them the most, they'll turn their back on you, and one of them will even try to kill you. All that matters is that you look out for yourself, because none of these shites are going to do it for you."

Neil shook his head. "No." He replied. "Come on, Asgeir. Back when we last saw each other in Vancouver you would have cut every limb you had off if it meant the Assassins would win against those tyrants. You said it yourself that all you had left of your family lived in the Assassins. Your sisters and everything they stood for still lives as long as the Assassins live. Don't ever tell me again that they'll turn their backs on you. You still have the hood to prove it."

I got up and started for the door. "I wear a white hoodie with a green lining. That doesn't mean I still have the hood of an Assassin." I said without looking back. I walked out as Hook walked back into the room with a bowl of green Jello.

* * *

Jason reported on the radio that there hadn't been any sightings of Zelena from the farmhouse. Though one novice reported seeing Robin Hood and Regina enter the house on their own. Jason recommended that some of the Assassin teams split up and cover more ground in teams of two. As for me, I headed off through the woods, following the trail from where Neil said he last was. Emma and David said that they would meet up with me there.

What kept bugging me as I walked through the chilling, frosted forest was that mark on Neil's hand. It was right at the back of my head and I knew I had seen it before. There was even one time during the war against Regina that I took the opportunity to break into her library to find whatever weakness I could against the Dark One. I didn't find anything to kill him in the books aside from the Dagger, but turning to Precursor artifacts sometimes reaps certain rewards.

I heard a shriek in pain that made me look up in surprise. Almost as soon as I heard it, a second one came. I sprinted off through the woods, climbing up a fallen tree propped against a second, which then provided me the swiftness to reach the source of the noise in record time. I always moved quicker through trees.

I didn't recognize the freak at first, but then I realized that it really was him, but not with the usual toad like complexion that made him instantly recognizable. He was instead finely dressed, but somewhat crazed looking and unclean. After all, Zelena had been keeping him in a basement for who knows how long.

Emma and David were running up just as I coming up behind him and drawing my flintlock. I'd been waiting for this for too long. I pulled back the hammer and got ready to fire.

"Whoa!" cried Emma. "Asgeir! Calm down!"

"CAN'T QUIET THE VOICES!" cried Gold.

"Don't hurt him!" She said, holding her hands up to me. "He knows who the Witch is!"

Hesitantly, I holstered my pistol. Soon enough, Emma. Soon enough and I wouldn't be taking orders from you, whether you truly were the Savior or not.

Emma knelt down in front of him as he fell to the ground in fright, clutching his head. "Gold are you alright?" She asked, although somewhat rhetorically.

"No! Not alright! Not alright!" He yelled. "I can't quiet the voices!"

Eye for an eye, then. What inflicted him was not unlike the pain that I felt for thirty years.

Emma tried to get something out of him, although his time she tried a calmer route. "We know you were held captive by the Witch." She said, slowly. "Do you know where she is?"

Gold started nodding, shaking horribly. "Yeah! Yeah she's- AUGHH!" He thrashed again. "There's no room! No room! There's too many voices! Too many voices!"

David went up towards Emma and Gold. "We gotta get him out of here!" He said.

"Screw that! Best let him die here right now!"

David glimpsed at me with slight shock, but regained his composure and looked back at his daughter. "Emma!"

Emma didn't have the chance to respond, because a flying monkey suddenly dive bombed from above. David swiped at it, causing it to crash land right past us. It got up and started snarling at us. I groaned, pulled my revolver out and put three shots in it's head. The monkey fell back dead, the fur on it's face now damp with that familiar crimson water.

"Asgeir!" said Emma. "Gold's getting away!"

"Then let's get him!" I yelled as I shot my Rope Blade and flew up into the trees. From above I could see Gold running off into the trees out of sight.

* * *

After a few minutes of losing Gold, I dropped down from the trees and Emma approached me.

"What was that back there?" She asked, angrily.

"What? Never seen someone show such bloodlust for Rumplestiltskin?" I said, still walking.

"Not at that level. I saw Hook even try his shot at killing Gold, but I see something different with you. For you it's personal."

I glimpsed at the Savior. "Begging your pardon, but aren't all vendettas against him personal?"

"Have Mary Margaret or David told you about my superpower?"

I stopped, and turned to her. "What?"

"My superpower. I'm really good at telling when a person is lying."

"So you have the Sight?" I said, remembering how some Assassins have honed it to use as a makeshift lie detector. Rabbit was also amazing at it as well.

Emma stopped. "Sorry, now you have me confused." She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. No. I know when a person is lying to me, and right now you're telling me a load of crap. That that back there wasn't something personal against Gold."

I raised my hands. "You got me. I want to kill Rumplestilskin just like any other bloke with common sense would. But I'm not telling you anything further than that. All you need to know is that because of dear old 'Rumple', my whole family is dead. And while he's not the only one responsible, he's high on that bloody list."

Emma could only stare at me in speechlessness when Neil came out of the trees.

"Emma? Asgeir?" He said.

Emma wasn't too thrilled to see him up and about. "Neil, what the hell are you doing here?"

He kept walking over. "You expect me to stay in bed while you're looking for my dad?"

I smirked. "Guess we forgot whom it is cooped up in there. No one stops Neil Cassidy."

"So you got a bead on him?" He asked.

"Yeah." Emma said. "We just saw him but he took off again."

Neil smiled, but I still had trouble accepting what I was hearing out of this man's father. Regardless of the man he was supposedly now, it never changed the fact that Rumplestiltskin pretty much helped George, Regina, everyone else that I hated in this world, and worst of all, Ingrid. So forgive me if I wasn't jumping for joy at his resurrection.

"So it's true?" Neil asked. "He's alive?"

I nodded, and Emma just said "Yeah."

"How'd he seem?"

"Completely fucked up." I said, boldly.

Emma winced at my language a little, but nodded. "Asgeir's not wrong. I don't know what that witch did to him, but he seems a little crazy. When I asked him about her, it was like he wanted to tell me but he couldn't."

Neil glimpsed around for a moment. "Well, he can't be far. Come on."

Emma didn't seem on board with that, but I just said to her "We're wasting time enough. Let's go."

"You wanna waste time dragging me to the hospital? Cause that's the only way you're going to get me there." Neil said.

"Fine. Let's go."

* * *

"So New York, huh?"

This wasn't my conversation, so I started strafing away whilst Emma and Neil kept talking.

"I liked the pizza." She replied.

"Did Henry like it?" He asked.

"He loves pizza."

I smirked. "I think Neil meant living in New York."

Neil shot me a glare that made me back away.

"Sorry!" I called. "Not my discussion."

They both went on about how Emma was with this guy that eventually proposed to her and then turned into a flying monkey.

Neil only laughed. "I almost married a minion of my evil grandfather Peter Pan. So I know what you're saying." He sniggered.

That boy was the reason that Neil and I eventually met. The circumstances however weren't as cut and dry as you might expect, though.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out." He said,

Emma looked back at him. "Really?"

"I care about you Emma." He said. "I always will. I just want you to be happy, even if it isn't with me."

Emma smiled. "We were happy. Once."

They both took a moment to stare each other until Emma's phone rang. Right after she picked up, I received a text.

"I looked up that symbol on Neil's hand and went over all the books we had on the Dark One. If that symbol is on Neil's hand, it means he used the key to the vault."

And then, as Emma heard something that made her shudder, it all came back to me. I've spent my whole life killing Templars for the death that they inflicted on fellow brothers and broken souls. I took their lives in exchange for the ones they took. The only thing that can truly pay for life is death. And if Neil used the key to open the vault-

"NEIL!" I cried as Neil fell to the ground with a yell.

Emma and I both rushed to Neil's side as he reared over on the ground. Then something really weird happened. His face seemed to shift into another's.

"Gold." I breathed as Neil quivered with pain.

"I think Gold- I think he's inside you!" Emma said. "I think that's how you're still alive."

Neil strained to speak. "I heard my father's voice in my head!" He wheezed. "He's in there! He's in me!"

He truly would save his son? He actually cared about him? I saw it happening before my eyes, but I still refused to truly believe it.

"He said there was no room." I said. "He meant you, Baelfire! There's no room for you!"

Neil grabbed Emma. "I need you to help me, Emma!" He whimpered. "Use your magic. Separate me and my father!"

"You kidding?" Emma said in disbelief. "Then you'll die!"

"I know." Said Neil. "But you need my dad more than me! To figure out who the Witch is! To save this town!"

I couldn't hold it back any longer. It could mean saving Neil if I revealed the secret. "I know who she is!"

Emma looked at me. "What?! You knew?"

Neil glimpsed at me. "Don't blame Asgeir, Emma. I know him. If he kept it secret, he had a good reason for it! But either way, I can't handle the voices! There's no room anymore! I can't take any more pain!"

Emma looked back at Neil. "I've never done anything like that before! Not that big!"

I held Neil's hand tightly as I could as he made his decision. "Do it! To save you and Henry! Do it! Please!"

He couldn't take much more of the pain. Emma took Neil's hands in her own, and concentrated. I sat back as the two people in one split apart in a flash of light. Neil fell backwards as Gold took his place.

Emma and I crawled over to Neil's side.

"Neil! Neil!" Emma cried. "Are you okay?"

"What have you done?!" Gold exclaimed.

"We're putting him out of his misery, you shite!" I snapped.

Neil smiled as he lay on the ground, dying in front of us. "It's okay, Papa. I told her to."

His father was bewildered. "But why?!"

"So you can tell her who the Witch is." Said Neil. "So you can defeat her!"

Gold was about to, but I beat him to the punch. "Zelena!" I snarled.

"What?" Said Emma. "She's the Witch? What does she want?"

"What she doesn't have." Gold whispered.

Emma desperately hoped that Rumplestiltskin had a way of saving Neil. "There has to be a way you can save him, right?"

Gold's lip trembled as he stood up, his expression giving us the clear answer. There was a lot of bloodshed I blamed him for, and I doubted even I would see him cry at the sight of someone, even his own son, meeting their end. Yet, that misery I saw on his face was genuine as my rage at him, Zelena, and Ingrid.

"It's too late, Emma." Neil breathed.

"Just hang in there, please!" She sobbed. "You never even had a chance to see Henry! For him to remember you!"

Neil smiled weakly. "It's okay. He doesn't need to. He just needs to know that, in the end I was a good father."

He looked up at me. "And Asgeir. You were like an older brother to me for so long. You taught me so much. I'll miss you just as much!"

I looked down at Neil and smiled a little, tears still coming to my eyes. "Nothing is True…"

"Not yet!" He groaned, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a necklace, a silver coin with a swan on it. Fitting.

"I saved this for you to give to you again." He wheezed. He placed it into Emma's miserable hands. "Go on, take it. Go find Tallahassee, even if it's without me."

"Neil!" She sobbed harder and harder.

"Hey." Neil smiled. "I'll be watching over you guys from somewhere. Promise me- just prom- promise me you'll both be happy."

Emma cried as she repeated the promise back to him. Gold suddenly was at his son's side.

"No! No, no, no I can fix this!"

Neil wouldn't have it. "No, you can't. You can't. Thank you Papa." He grinned. "For showing me what it is to make a true sacrifice. It's about saving the ones that you love. It's my turn now."

Gold started crying to. "No…" He sobbed. "I don't want to let you go!"

Neil shook his head. "You have to." He whispered. "Let go." He looked up at me. "See you on the other side, old timer. Nothing is True…"

I weakly placed my hand on my heart as Neil fell back and closed his eyes. "Everything is Permitted." I sobbed.

Emma and Gold both looked at each other with misery. I, instead, looked up into the forest trees and roared with rage.

"ZELENAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

I smashed my foot on the hard white door as David, Emma and I burst into the Charmings' flat, weapons drawn. Splinters from the door frame went flying and now littered the floor.

"Emma! David! Asgeir!" Snow gasped from the dining room table. "What's going on?"

"Where's Zelena?" Emma demanded.

Snow was confused. "In the bathroom, why?"

David drew his sword and beckoned Emma and me down the hallway to the bathroom. They both took a door on either side of it, and kicked them in. The window was wide open, giving us all the notice we needed to know that she wasn't there.

"That bitch had to know we were coming." I said.

Emma pulled out her phone. "I'll call Regina. We need to get a protection spell around this apartment right away."

Snow looked over at us from the living room. "Does anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

David went over to his wife. "I'm just glad you're safe." He said.

"Of course I'm safe. Why wouldn't I be safe?"

"It's Zelena."

Emma looked over at her mother. "She's the Wicked Witch."

Snow was confused. "What? How do you know?" She asked.

"Gold told us. And Asgeir knew all along. Kept the truth hidden for reason that truly escape me at the moment!" She snapped at me.

"Oi! Easy, blondie. If it weren't for me, that witch might have taken your bloody ungrateful throat out!" I snapped back.

"Enough, Asgeir!" David growled. "We'll discuss it later!"

I shook my head. "No, I'm through talking shit out with that Witch. She's just taken it too far!" I started for the door.

"What are you doing?" Called Emma.

"Getting even!" I replied, heading out the door.

* * *

Rushing through the forest, the Outpost came into full view as a small cabin with two Assassins standing guard outside. They nodded as I walked right in. They knew who I was, but not what I intended to do.

While the Bunker was hidden very well and protected easily, the guns in the Outpost were ripe for the taking as soon as I opened the basement door. I had parked my truck not far from there at the lot at the end of a hiking trail. I immediately saw what I was looking for on the wall right in front of me, along with several pieces of ammunition right below it. An RPG-7 rocket launcher with a shot already loaded in. I grabbed it off the wall along with three other rockets and holstered them to my hood. I ran out of the Outpost, the Assassins behind me now noticing that I was carrying something I shouldn't. They yelled at me to stop, but I didn't listen. It didn't matter.

I jumped into my truck and tossed the rocket launcher beside me into the shotgun seat, then floored it. The tires skidded on the cold wet pavement as I flew down the backroads through the forest until I got to the driveway.

Jumping out of the truck with the RPG in my hands, I held it up, pointing it at the farmhouse where we had found out Zelena was holed up in days ago.

"ZELENA!" I roared, pulling the trigger. The force of the rocket shooting from the launcher tossed me backwards, but I recovered quickly as a portion of the house went up, small pieces of wood and stone raining down on me. I loaded another rocket into the launcher and shot again, this time the house really feeling the rocket's magnitude on it's already weakened structure.

Suddenly I heard a loud crack of a gunshot, followed by the familiar force of a bullet tossing me to the ground. I had forgotten about those snipers. I guess they thought I was considered something "suspicious" to shoot on sight with me shooting a rocket launcher wildly at the house. But I ignored the gunshot in my leg, got up, and loaded another rocket. I shot it again at the house, more debris raining down on me.

It didn't mean much. To blow up her house for killing Neil. No house can replace a friend. But it was making me feel slightly better. I was just about to shoot a fourth rocket when I felt it yanked from my hands.

"Now that's just rude." She chuckled as she tossed the launcher aside. "Didn't your proud old father teach you manners?"

I pointed a quivering finger at her. "Neil was a good soul! And you killed him like he was nothing!" I was more mad than I had been in months, but I could feel boiling wet salt pouring down my cheeks.

"On the contrary, dear." Zelena sneered. "I simply passed on the message of how he could revive the Dark One, and he obeyed."

I pulled my flintlock. I had loaded in the proper shot for this one. I could end her right then and there and she didn't even know it. But Zelena only smiled.

"I know what's in that pistol. Like you think a special bullet is going to stop me? Please. You won't just kill me, Asgeir. You're going to want to savor this, and you can't do it with a gun."

"I just blew up your house, have you by gunpoint and you still taunt me? You're stupider than even I cared to realize.

"A house is only a pile of sticks and stones." Zelena scoffed. "It meant nothing to me, that house. So do as you will."

I heard the roaring of engines as Zelena looked behind her. Two white vans were coming up the drive.

"Well, I'm off." She sneered. "Ta."

As soon as she disappeared in a puff of green smoke, The vans stopped and I ran over to the launcher for one more shot. Six Assassins armed with assault rifles each jumped out of the vans in threes as I loaded one more rocket into the launcher.

"Asgeir!" Jason called among them. "Put the launcher down! It's over!"

I shook my head as I turned and took aim at the house. It was already burning to the ground, but one more shot couldn't hurt. "It hasn't even begun." I replied faintly, as I shot the rocket at the house.

As soon as the rocket exploded against the house, I dropped the launcher and knelt down on the ground with my hands in the air, my back facing the others.

"Turn around!" one of the Assassins cried out. "Now!"

I did, and the young Assassin who looked no older than Anna raised the butt of his rifle towards my face.

"Here we go again." I murmured as it met my face, and I blacked out.


	17. Chapter 17: Past- Cassidy

**A/N: I can say it as many times as I want, but I know that actions speak much louder than words. So instead of apologizing again, I can just say this: I have no loss of motivation nor intention of leaving this whole thing hanging. I feel a little upset considering that one of my friends on this site, deadlysorrow, has lost their motivation on their fanfic Frost Bitten. I personally love working on this, and don't see it as a chore or work. It's fun to make all the connections I can find between the two deep universes of Assassin's Creed and Once Upon a Time, and you can start to see some of them unfold as you read this next chapter. I'm already working on the next chapter, which features a POV change for the first time in a while. I'm not going to make any promises this time though, because that's not fair.**

**Replying to mfmxxx's review that I seem to be making everyone Templars, I can name several villains that aren't Templars. In fact, Asgeir's worst targets aren't Templars. Ingrid, Rumplestiltskin, and Zelena all have some connection to the Assassins or Templars in their pasts, but none of them are on either side. They're just evil.**

* * *

Chapter 17: Past- Cassidy

I leaned back in the chair to Matthew's left. He only looked grim as the remaining Nomad Assassins from our branch took their seats. I could only sit by and listen as he spoke. It was our "official" last meeting of the Arendelle Nomads.

"It's confirmed now." He began. "Regina is ready to cast the Dark Curse and bring this war to either a close, or a new level of chaos."

Jason sat across from me, looking more afraid than hopeless. "There's nothing else we can do to prevent this? We could just try and kill her."

"It's too late for that, Jason." I said. "Regina has her army of loyalist Black Knights, and even if she wasn't protected by them, it would take too long for us to get to her before she unleashes the Curse."

"Asgeir is right." Matthew stated. "I've even considered us all using the beans that we still have to move onto the Land Without Magic, but it would still be running from what we should face. We can't allow that. Which is why we need to turn to our final contingency. We have to give up."

Giving up went against every code we stood for. I angrily turned my head and looked back at the older man that I had turned to for so long for leadership. My very own Mentor would rather give up instead of going out fighting.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" I snarled. "We're Assassins! We don't ever give up, no matter the cost."

"You didn't let me finish, Asgeir." He shot back. "We need to give Regina the illusion that she's beaten us, and that means that most of us will just have to accept fate and take this Curse. Except one of us. We will send one of our own to go forward into the Land Without Magic and gather our forces to locate this town that will manifest under the Dark Curse."

"Matthew, it's too great a risk." Zar said. "Not enough Assassins in that world knows of the other realms, and even if they believed this story, who can we send forward? Too many of us have fought longer and harder than even the proudest of our ancestors can say. This may be the endgame."

I clenched my fist against the edge of the table. "I've fought the Templars since I was nine years old. It was my hesitation that had Anna and Elsa killed, and it's going to keep being the death of those I care about until I make sure that every last Templar is a maggot filled sack of rotting flesh, six feet under. If no one will volunteer to go forth and bring reinforcements to take down Regina from the other side, I'll go myself."

"Are you sure, Asgeir?" Matthew asked, wearingly. "If taking the hood didn't mean that there was no turning back, this is. The Dark Curse is as real as it gets. Are you sure that this is what you want?"

I looked over at the board on the other side of the room, portraits of our most fearsome enemies connecting the massive web of yarn all over it. King George was no longer a threat, but Regina's smug expression still lay right in the center of the board. I walked around the table, slowly and silently. I angrily slammed Pick right through the portrait, right in between Regina's eyes.

* * *

The Assassins now were in charge of the defense of the castle, as the Curse would be coming in. As soon as I was ready, I would take the portal to our safe house in the Black Hills of North Dakota, USA. They called it the Farm. I had the beans in the pouch on my belt, but I knew that there was still one loose end I had to tie up before leaving this world behind.

While most of the Assassins started going up the walls or climbing the stairs to prepare the defense against Regina, I started heading downwards through the dungeons. When I reached the right part of the dungeon, two guards stopped me in my tracks.

"Sorry, Master Asgeir, but you aren't allowed here. Snow White's orders."

"Fuck your Queen's orders." I snarled back at him. "Let me through or I'll make sure you don't even make it to this new land with your heart still in your goddamned chest."

The guard showed no visual signs of intimidation, but I could read his other parts easy enough. He was scared enough to be threatened so badly by the White Reaper. His friend didn't even try and stop me. He was already cowering in the shadows, against a wall as far as he could get from me.

I trudged down the dank dungeon, rats, years and hay littering the floor like fallout from an aging bomb. I heard that the first Templar king of the Enchanted Forest had built this dungeon with this castle during the Crusades in the Land Without Magic. It was that old, and now one of its smallest cells held the worst devil to ever climb out of the fiery pit.

He smiled his rotten grin up at me as he sat up in his cell.

"Oooh!" He giggled. "The White Rrreaper of Arendelle is now seeking for my help! It's taken him long enough! But I knew that one day he would come crawling to me to beg-"

"Shut up." I commanded, pulling my fist out of my hood.

Rumplestiltskin now cowered and backed down, silenced as he looked up at what my fist held. The Dagger.

"How did you-?" He thought that he had hidden it where no one could find it.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" I snarled, holding it closer to him. He backed away and into the wall at the back of his cell. He glowered at me, and shook his head.

"Excellent." I smirked. "Looks like we're at a crossroads, Rumplestiltskin. Regina's curse is rolling in, and here you sit, snickering and giggling. It's like you've won here."

"But I have won, dearie!"

"Say one more word and I cut your balls off with this thing." Rumplestiltskin once again whimpered as I said my commands. "You'll only speak when you answer my questions."

"It's taken me years to contemplate all this. You were around long before even my ancestor Asgeir the First was alive. I've heard stories from the Assassins that came before me that faced off against you at one point or another. All of them knew that you were the one working on this Dark Curse for centuries, and all of them knew that you had a reason for it. It's not just to condemn the good souls that fought for their freedom from tyrants like Regina and George. There's something bigger here than that. And now you're going to answer this question for me: Why would you do this? Why would you sacrifice so many people just to be sent to another realm where you won't even remember who you are?"

Rumplestiltskin glared up at me from the ground. He got up slowly and walked towards me to the bars of the cell. He grabbed them and leaned in closely towards me. We both looked dead on into each other's eyes.

"My son." He replied.

A son? I took a step back as I tried to contemplate this hard truth. The Imp had a son this whole time? How long ago? I held up the Dagger and demanded Rumplestiltskin tell me everything.

"I wasn't always this monster. And when I was still a man, I had a son. He wished to be free of the Dark One that I had become, and made a deal with the Blue Fairy to use a Magic Bean and travel to a World Without Magic. But it was the last one that the fairies had left, and when my son tried to take me with him, I was too afraid to go with him, and let him go. It's the Blue Fairy's fault he's gone!" He snarled. "This Curse will take me to the Land Without Magic and I will be reunited with my son!"

I had hated that fairy for ruining so many people's lives. People like Grumpy blamed me for things that she did, but it was clipping Tink's wings that became the first of many deeds that showed me that she was far from good as her title suggested. She was out for herself, and only herself.

"She took my son! She took my son and I will get him back."

"Quiet." I ordered.

Rumplestiltskin did as he was told.

"The Blue Fairy's ruined more lives than I can count. Where you screw people over with your deals and tricks, she hurts those who don't appeal to her rules. But I know that in this situation, she's right. She didn't take your son. You drove him away. I know what kind of monster you are Rumplestiltskin. Anna didn't, and look what it got her." I turned my back towards the cell as I said this. "What was his name?"

Rumplestiltskin almost laughed a genuine laugh as he said this, true happiness in his voice. "Bae." He murmured. "His name is Baelfire."

I smirked. The mention of that name seemed to spark the Piece in my hands, and suddenly the answers were flooding my shattered head. And the chips fell where they were meant to. Right where I wanted them. "I understand you now, Rumplestiltskin. It's taken me so long, but I see you differently. Not a freak trying to destroy an entire realm, but a father looking for his son. Life has taken so much from you. You might even say plenty enough, to break most men. I would know, since fate has been ruthless to me. I'm someone that has spent years on a bloody warpath on the hunt for the animal that slaughtered his sisters and two of his brothers. Fate has been cruel to you, Rumplestiltskin. Fate has taken much from you."

I turned "But unfortunately for you, it's still not enough." I continued. "You need to truly know what I know, which is complete loss of hope. You're about to see how pointless this Curse will be. It doesn't matter if this Savior comes to break the Curse. The whole point of you creating this Curse was to find your son, and I am about to make your efforts fruitless. And the best part is, you won't even remember it happening."

Rumplestiltskin flashed his teeth at me. "What can you do to me, Assassin? You can't kill me, because we both know that you don't have the guts to become the new Dark One."

I kept my smirk. "On the contrary. I can kill you, but I am choosing not to. You're immortal and invulnerable to most. But your son is just as mortal as the rest of us. And now I know who he is. _Where _he is. The Piece has shown me much," I glimpsed at the Dagger in my hand.

In one swift move I pulled a magic bean out of my satchel on my belt. Rumplestiltskin looked at me in horror, and thrashed against the cell bars, screaming his head off.

"BAE! PLEASE DON'T HURT MY BOY, REAPER!" He shrieked. "YOU WANT ME AND YOU CAN HAVE ME, BUT DON'T HURT HIM! HE HAS DONE NOTHING TO YOU! PLEASE PUNISH ME!"

"I'm about to." I replied. "Do you know what it's like to see your own sisters turn against each other at the hands of a freak like you? Sure. You didn't kill them, but you had a hand in it. Don't think I'm stupid enough to not know you and Ingrid were working together. Even if you weren't the one to freeze either one of them, you're just as responsible for Elsa and Anna's deaths as Ingrid."

"BUT SHE'S ALIVE!" Rumplestiltskin bellowed. "QUEEN ELSA IS ALIVE! IF YOU STOP NOW, I WILL TAKE YOU TO HER!"

For a moment there, I thought that I could believe him. But I knew that this was just a desperate attempt to save his kid. One that would prove unsuccessful. I held my fist up towards the ground as I felt the dungeon shake around us. The Curse was here.

"Goodbye, Rumplestiltskin. When this Curse breaks, know that your son died painfully and slowly." I dropped the Bean on the ground at my feet as I tossed the Dagger aside, now useless to me.

The deafening sounds of the rushing wind, and the shaking Earth from both the Curse and the portal were nothing compared to the other sounds. The sounds of the Dark One crying for his own son.

* * *

There are those who'd tell me I had broken my vows by this act alone if anyone ever found out about this. Threatening an innocent boy who I had heard of once before. One that had never raised a sword to me. But my actions afterwards proved otherwise. I saved that boy's life before trying to take it myself. The one that held him now would give him a fate far worse than death.

I was told by Matthew to head directly to the Farm as soon as I had left, but the answers I had been given had me take a detour.

I felt the spray of the ocean as I landed hard onto the sandy beach. The sky was dark, with the spittle of bright dots reflecting off the waves of the endless ocean. The dense jungles were right in front of me as I slashed my way through the foliage. My hood brushed against the leaves as I pushed hard through.

When I was certain that I was at the right place, I called for him.

"PAN!" I yelled. "Show yourself!"

"Hello Asgeir,"

I turned angrily to the smirking kid that sat in front of me. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and sat on a rotting log enveloped in moss and other filth. Pan.

"It has been a while, friend." He said.

"Enough talk, Pan. I've come here for what you owe us, and I will take it tonight."

"Yes, yes. The Assassins still believe that I am one of them and you've come here to make me pay the debt."

Pan sat there, smirking as I waited for him. The boy could practically read minds, and yet he wasn't budging.

"Well? Give me what you owe me."

"Oh, well I can't really do that, Asgeir." He responded.

"Yeah?" I asked. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I don't want to." Echoing that familiar sentence.

I started pulling my flintlock off my holster. "Like father, like son." I snarled.

Pan's smile faded slightly as I pulled the hammer back on my flintlock.

"And what would you know about that?" He sneered.

"I know the truth, _Malcolm._" I shot back. "I know everything that the Assassins either forgot, or refused to tell me. The Pieces of Eden truly give almost all the answers most wish. While I still have most unanswered, the Piece I held only an hour ago revealed to me the truth. About you. I know everything about you. And I know the real reason you hold Baelfire here is not because he's a Lost Boy estranged from his father, but because his father is of your rotten blood."

Pan started to stand up before I pulled the trigger back. He fell back and shouted in pain. As he lay on the ground in pain, blood started to spurt from between his hands, clutching his chest painfully. He looked at his wound, then in horror at me.

"How-?"

I opened my satchel and pulled another out. A flintlock shot made unlike any other. Glowing a deep blue in between my thumb and middle finger.

"Aren't they a beauty?" I asked. "The Precursors left behind blueprints for them that only some Assassins could iterate, embedded in very few Pieces of Eden. I spent years scouring the realms for these instructions and even longer laboring exhaustively to perfect them. The Bullets of Eden. No soul, living, dead, or otherwise is safe from them Anyone can be killed by these bullets. Not one is truly safe from them. And I'm saving several more for some special people." I knelt down beside Pan. "Your son is one of them, Pan. As well as Ingrid. Both of them should have known better than to cross me. When I get the chance, whether it takes twenty-eight years, or two hundred, I will fill both of them up with every Bullet I forged. Then they will know real despair as I rip everything from them."

I grabbed Pan's hands, and forced them off his chest. Then I held one of my thumbs up, and shoved it right into the hole in Pan's chest. Everyone shows fear at one point. Everyone shows pain at even more points. And Pan's bloody murder screams proved that he was knowing more pain than he had ever known.

He started glowing, and his form shifting to that of an older man with a beard. "What do you want?" He managed.

I pulled my thumb out of his wound as he shifted back to his younger self. I stood up. "I want your grandson. I want Baelfire. Killing him will show Rumplestiltskin when he remembers one day that no one escapes me. Everyone who dares to faces me will not survive. I want the kid, and I want him right now."

"Hands up, Assassin!"

I glimpsed sideways to three Lost Boys with their bows all pointed at me. I pulled out my other flintlock and aimed it at Pan.

"You want to save your condemned master then go ahead!" I snapped. "All you have to do is shoot me! But I don't think you want to do that. Because I don't even need two seconds to finish off Pan."

Pan held his hand up. "Bring Baelfire to him." He winced. "Now."

Two of the Lost Boys looked at each other, confused. Then they turned and went back into the foliage.

"It took me a long time to pry Baelfire out of my pathetic son's hands. It took you five minutes." Pan growled.

"Oh, please shut your trap. Otherwise I'll shoot you again. You do what I say now, Pan. Anything beyond that and you will regret it."

The two Lost Boys returned with the boy, his hands and feet bound with frayed rope. I could hear muffled whimpering coming from underneath the sack on his head.

I walked over and reached to pull the bag on his head. One of the boys tried to stop me from doing so.

"It's him." He insisted. "You don't need to check. What, you don't trust us?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're just as treacherous as your master, kid. I don't trust anyone of you little shites any further than I can throw a horse."

I grabbed the bag over the bound boy's head, and pulled it over slowly. The boy had black hair and dark eyes moist with tears. He looked at first like he was crying with joy, but upon further examination of just who it was looking back at him, his hope snuffed out. He whimpered with silent fear as I lowered the bag back.

"It's him." I replied. "A pleasure doing business with you all."

I grabbed Baelfire and started backing away.

"Always a privilege to bargain with disgraced Assassins. We'll have to do this again sometime."

I dropped another bean to the ground, and felt the ground collapse beneath myself and Baelfire in the familiar swirling green.

* * *

I kicked the back of Baelfire's leg and sent him down into the dirt on his knees. I pulled the bag off his head and removed the gag.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Who am I?" I replied. "Does it really matter when I'm about to reap your soul, kid?"

"At least give me a name. I've come too far to just die like this."

"Then I got some bad news for you, kid. You _are_ going to die like this right here."

I gestured around, the dark woods all around us. We were nowhere near Vancouver, the closest major city from where we stood.

"Take a good look, Baelfire." I said. "This place has a lot of history."

Baelfire looked, but he did not see what I was trying to show him. "I don't get it." He said. "This forest is something special?"

"We're right in the middle of the untamed Interior of British Columbia, Canada." I said. "And this place is a place we Assassins call The Gates. You want to know why we call it that?"

"No."

I ignored him. "Contrary to what the name might suggest, there are no real gates for miles around here. It's more of a nod to the people who the Assassins bring here. Some of the worst criminals and Templar scumbags. This place is one of the easiest places to dump a body, or even leave someone to die out here. Anyone who is so much as left here is dead once the Assassins who took him here leave. There's nothing here for miles except untamed wilderness. You get dropped here in summer, and you'll die of dehydration. You get dropped here in the winter, and you'll die of hypothermia. Take a good long look at the landscape, Baelfire. The mountainous forests and rivers surrounding us. I don't know about you, but I'd like the last thing I ever see to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. So take it all in before I send you through the gates of the afterlife."

Baelfire looked up at me. "And you think I've done something that makes me deserve death?"

"Oh, kid. Not in the slightest. I know you didn't do anything wrong. But your father is another story."

"Wait, what?"

"Your demon father has condemned countless lives for his own amusement. My own family is dead because of him, among other people responsible. So I think it's just about time that I get even with him, and show him what it feels like to lose someone he cares about. In fact, he thinks you're dead already."

Baelfire struggled to stand up, but still did it, even after I drew my flintlock on him.

"Back on the ground, kid. You really don't know how to follow instructions." I snarled, pulling the hammer back on my pistol.

"If you think killing me will make you get even with my father, then you are just as deluded as I once was. To think that he cares for me."

I stopped, then held my gun up as I forced Baelfire back down onto the ground. He did care about him. That's why he had Regina send thousands of lives to hell.

"You have two minutes to explain what you mean by that. Any second over that, and you're over too."

"My father doesn't care for me." He said. "All he really cared about was obtaining all the power he could with that Dagger. Whatever he did to you back in our land, it can't be made better by killing me. If he doesn't care for me, then he won't really be hurt by this."

The voice the boy used didn't even sound like a son talking about his father. It was more like a boy describing a monster that killed his father.

"So killing you won't really do me any good, will it?" I asked. "And I'm guessing that you too hate your father."

"I may not hate him as much as you do, sir. But please believe me: We're on the same side. Killing me will bring you nothing. "

I knelt down in front of Baelfire. "Turn around. Now."

He did.

I looked at the gun in my hands. I was so close to taking an innocent's live just for the sake of taking revenge on Rumplestiltskin. But maybe him believing that I killed his son would be enough. Then there was the matter of what to do with the boy. Baelfire was almost as old as his father, but had retained his age due to the magical powers of Neverland. Maybe he could prove to be a valuable asset to me in a different way. The Assassins just faced a devastating loss of troops. We'd need all the help we could get.

I flicked my wrist, my blade extending. I cut the bindings on both his hands and feet, and then helped him up.

"We aren't on the same side, Baelfire." I said. "Not yet, anyways. Name's Asgeir."

* * *

The truck hit another pothole as we followed the overgrown road. Baelfire sat in the shotgun seat keeping an eye on our supplies. The compond was just up the road from here. I counted roughly three camouflaged sentry guns as we drove up the road.

"A lot has changed in this world, hasn't it?" Baelfire asked. He was wearing an old Assassin hoodie I found at one of our older outposts on the Canadian border.

I glimpsed at him every five seconds as I spoke, keeping an eye on the dirt road. We had done all we could to avoid towns and cities, considering that the driver of our vehicle was an exiled Assassin and the passenger was a young boy with no id of any kind.

"What year was it when you were last here, Baelfire?" I asked.

"I was in London, 1868. Spent most of the year then."

1868\. That was when the Frye twins rose up to become one of the most notorious British Assassins in history. Only a century before me.

While Baelfire had most likely heard of them or their street gang, the Rooks, I decided not to ask. Instead, I told him what I could easily summarize about the last hundred years.

"Most of what the engineers back then invented turned into amazing machines. The carriages became cars, then the telegraph became the telephone, and so on. You might want to start a list and try and catch up. Otherwise, you're never going to fit in this period of history."

"Do you really think it'll be that easy to just become an Assassin? You told me that every one of them start at a young age."

"No, I don't think I worded it like that. I said that most Assassins start where I did, at age 9. But even the legends among us started where you are. Ezio Auditore, and even Connor Kenway were older than you when they took the hood. If you are prepared to learn our ways, follow the Creed, and fight for the freedome that people like your father sought to take from humanity, then you will be an even better Assassin than I ever will."

We took a sharp turn onto an overgrown path off the dirt road. Branches and foliage covered the road so thickly; you wouldn't even know there was a road there unless you were told. Baelfire cranked up the window he had rolled down as one of the branches smacked him. He pulled the lever on the window with the same curiosity as anyone would if they could see such a modern convenience as that. Truth be told, I know Baelfire would have more than likely had some kind of brain meltdown if he had been taken to this world by now. I mean, it's quite a step to go from a carriage that had to be drawn by horse to now cars that have GPS and Wi-Fi connections.

Presently, we reached a small metal gate that stretched across the road. Sort of the kind of gate that barricades a road to prevent drivers from taking their cars onto hiking trails. I got out of the pickup, and walked slowly towards the gate. Knowing just how paranoid the Assassins stationed here were, I wouldn't be surprised that this was more than likely a trap. I reached down for the chain that kept the gate closed, and started pulling. As I pulled it out, I noticed small letter engraved on the links of the chain. The link in my hand right now had a "Q" on it. I examined each link an discovered that they spelled out the words if I lined it up correctly.

"Requiescat In Pace."

"Don't move, shithead."

I held my hands up slowly. I heard a click and that familiar metal circle get pushed into the back of my scalp.

"Stand up slowly, and no sudden movements."

Keeping my hands up, I did as I was told. I started turning my head to look at my attacker, but he grabbed my neck and forced me to look forwards.

"You have any weapons on you?" He asked.

"I got two flintlocks under my hoodie in my waistband, both my hidden blades under my sleeves, and the rest of my weapons are in the back of the truck."

"And where did you get the blades?" He asked. "Stole them right from your targets, Templar?"

I smirked. "You think that just because I know about this place, I'm a Templar? They deal in massive strike teams, not single men stealthly take on the whole of you lot."

The Assassin ignored me and started frisking me down to make sure I wasn't hiding any more weapons.

"Enjoying yourself, friend?" I asked as he patted me down on my lower half.

"Make one more joke and I forget asking questions and just shoot you. I got two more Assassins already searching the truck and your kid. I would be careful if I were you."

Once he finished taking my weapons, he held his gun up to my head.

"How do you know of this place, stranger?"

"I think it's plain obvious. I'm wearing the hoodie, I have the blades, and this." I held my right hand up with my ring finger out, the burn mark still there. "I'm just as much an Assassin as you are."

"This is the Farm. No one comes, and no ones goes. That's the rule. So it sounds to me more likely that you're a decoy or diversion for something that is coming ahead."

He stepped in front of me, now. White hoodie with a black leather jacket over, brown hair and beard. His gun was a revolver that looked quite worn out and grimy. He pushed it into my left eye socket.

"I'm giving you ten seconds to explain exactly what it is that you're doing here. Then you lose an eye."

Angrily, I started as best I could. "I told you that I'm an Assassin as well, you shite. Ask your Mentor, Steven Windsor. He knew I was coming!"

And apparently didn't tell his troops that there would be a visitor coming to the Farm. Idiot.

The Assassin wasn't listening to me. As soon as he counted to ten he point blank shot me right in the eye. I fell backwards onto my knees as the gunshot's bang rattled through my skull. I rubbed where the bullethole should have been then got up.

"Are you done?" I asked.

The Assassin looked horrified as he swung his gun arm around and tried hitting me with it. I grabbed his hand and pried the gun from it.

"Quit waving that thing around, friend. You're gonna hurt yourself.

"Bu-b-b-but I-"

I rolled my eyes and tossed the gun aside. "Bring me Steven Windsor, and this will go by much quicker and easier." I called over to the other Assassin at my truck. The younger one had Baelfire by bladepoint, and the other was searching the truck.

"Right now, pricks. I think your friend here just realized that I'm neither patient, nor one to mess with."

* * *

I had only heard whispers about Steven Windsor before. He was Mentor to the American Assassins and spent most of his time at the Farm. Apparently he was also quite secretive, because it was news to every Assassin we met on our way to the compound that there were two new people coming. He was also one of the very few Assassins that was aware of the other realms. This was why I was to meet with him.

Before we entered the main building of the Farm, I pulled Baelfire aside. "We got something we need to decide, Baelfire." I said.

"What is it?" He asked, nervously.

"Your name. No one in this world has been given such a name, so it'll sound like a half assed lie if we were to keep your name. You need a more valid alias when we work with these people."

"Do you have an idea for a name?"

"There was an American Assassin I met here in this world when I was very young. Barely 16, he was gunned down by Templars during an infiltration mission I accompanied him on. His name was Neil Cassidy. Steven will set you up with that name, but I promise you that the sound of that name won't perk up more ears than 'Baelfire'."

"Alright. I like that name."

* * *

Two months Neil and I spent training together. Steven brought the Assassin who shot me in the eye forward and made him apologize to me. His name was William Miles, and he was probably the most paranoid Assassin I had ever met. Neil and I must have tripped the sensors when we entered the compound, and he followed the signal with a few of lower ranking Assassins to take us down.

"Where did you find the kid, Asgeir?" Steven asked me after William had left.

Steven knew of Rumplestiltskin, and so I knew I needed to keep Neil's identity a secret to ensure that he could leave behind his past in the Enchanted Forest.

"He was a stable boy for a smaller Templar. He'd put up with enough of the man's abuse and was eager to join up with us if it meant taking down more like him. Can you keep an eye on him?"

"Surely. But what are you doing?"

"It's the Curse. The Evil Queen had banished everyone in the Enchanted Forest to this world. I have no idea where they are, but I heard that it's some kind of magical prison big enough to hold everyone from that realm, and erase all their memories of the other world. I was sent here by Matthew to find the prison and try and break them free of it before this 'Savior' arrives to break the Curse."

"You even have any ideas on where to start?"

"Forget needles in the haystack, Steve." I replied. "This whole world is a barn of haystacks, and there's only one needle. Time to find it."

Or in my mind, find _her. _Ingrid

* * *

"I've tracked birds that left no trails faster than I've found this place, Steven."

"What can you do, Asgeir?" He replied. "Something has to be blocking this town from being found by anything that we have. Maybe we need to look at this from a magical perspective."

"You'd think that after these last two years I would have found something. I don't need magic to find this place. I need a Piece."

Steven leaned forwards in his chair. "You know, I think I got something even better."

He opened one of the cabinets in his desk, and pulled out a pad and paper. He wrote down a series of numbers on it, tore the page off, and then handed it to me. Coordinates perhaps, from how they were written.

"Memorize the numbers here, then burn it." He said. "Can't risk them falling into the wrong hands."

"What are these?"

"Best I can say is that they lead to a possible answer, Asgeir. Only a possible answer."

Before leaving that day, I came to see Neil. He had settled greatly into his role on the Farm as a potential Assassin. He lived in a bunk unit with five other recruits his own age.

"It's not the best living situation I've ever had." He admitted. "But I'll take this any day over Neverland."

"Anything else I should be concerned with, Neil?" I asked.

"I wish you didn't have to keep leaving, Asgeir. What's keeping you from staying here with people you belong with?"

"I want to stay here too, Neil." Thinking "Anna" as I said this. "But my mission still isn't over. I have a lead on a group of Templars I've been tracking for a long time. I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

The coordinates gave me some hope when I followed up on them, but another dead end. For now. It became a pattern of following every lead, every whisper, anything that I thought could help me find Storybrooke or possibly Ingrid.

Then came the real missions. The people I found at the coordinates had seen what I could do. For a long time. They required my skills for the missions that not even the insane Assassins would dare do. Someone who could take as many bullets as I had and not even take a breath was clearly a valuable asset. Imagine having my curse, and the skills I processed as one of the most deadly Assassins still alive today. I could take down more Abstergo operations than I could even count. They started me small at first. Taking down engineers developing their new computer system, codenamed "Animus". Then it got bigger. I can't go into much details on how big they gotten, but I can say for certainty that Sickles and Hammers would be still flying in Russia without me.

Every year the real players in this war between Assassins and Templars kept sending me on their quests to take down the evil and the corrupt. Then suddenly, the missions stopped. Last I heard of these so-called "Masters", they had me jump to another realm to wipe out the Templar presence completely there. The people there are now as free as they wish to be, and I can be glad that it was my doing that ensured their freedom.

Neil and I met up some time afterwards. He had risen respectively in the Assassins there, and was now coaching the younger recruits.

Early one morning after my return, Neil and I went outside together to oversee the boys and their morning run.

"So is it really all that exciting out in the real world, Asgeir?" He asked as we sat on the picnic table, the boys running laps around the field.

"Soviet Union is now over thanks to me and the Russian brothers."

"Damn, I wish I could- Hey!" Neil interrupted himself and called over to one of the younger boys at the rear of the pack. "Hey! Desmond! Pick it up, man!" He continued. "I wish I could be out there with you."

"Well, you're welcome to go with me. The Farm is a dead end for some of us. We don't belong here off the grid. Abstergo will find and kill us all if we just bury our heads in the sand and hide. It's action that takes down these buggers."

"You think I really got a choice here, brother? You dumped me here because I agreed to take part in this war and now I'm stuck here coaching boys on how to run and hide. Some of them don't even believe Abstergo is hunting us down."

"Which is why I talked with Steven already. He's letting you and me go at it with each other at our backs. I'll show you the ropes of really living out there. We'll take them all down."

* * *

For a while, that's exactly what happened. Neil and I were forces to be reckoned with. Although a lot of what we did became petty crimes to what the Templars saw, Neil had to start somewhere. There were times where we split off to outrun the cops and Templars for a while. But we always met back up. Once 1999 rolled around, Neil had learned enough from me that he decided to strike out on his own for now.

"Are you sure you got this, Neil?" I asked that morning. We were down at a park called Ambleside in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"It's not a big deal, Asgeir. The skills you passed onto me are more than enough for anyone to survive on their own. In my hands, I know that Abstergo has no chance of tracking me down, and even if they do, they won't be taking me in alive."

"Nevertheless, we need to have some kind of plan ready to make sure we're both okay. Even when we're on our own, we gotta have each other's backs."

"You've been my Mentor this whole time, brother." Neil smirked. "What're your thoughts?"

"Every six months. We should at least meet back up with each other every six months. I think it seems reasonable."

"Six months is alright with me. You know how to find me, and I you."

I grabbed Neil's hand and threw my arms over his shoulder in a brotherly hug. "Farewell, Cassidy."

"And you, Swortssen."

Neil and I did our best to stay out of contact as much as we could to evade Abstergo as best we could There was a time where he and a girl he was with (while I sat there in the Bunker after blowing up Zelena's house, I realized all along that this woman that Neil was telling me about was Emma.) ended up having to separate because someone else knew his secret aside from me and Steven. After that, Neil and I didn't speak unless setting up our meets. Then, in 2004, I received the calling towards the storm I knew was coming.

The Masters. They had other plans for me. A mission that meant the life or death of an entire world. I was called upon to play my part and ensure that the Mad King of this world would see the justice he deserved for the horrors he inflicted on his subjects. I hadn't seen Neil since, and that war did more to me than any man should have taken. It was what finally killed me. But only on the inside.


	18. Chapter 18: It's Not Easy Being Green

**A/N: I'm now having a friend proofread and edit my chapters from here on out so that I can make sure that they're that much better. It takes longer, but as you can see, with this being one of the longest chapters in the fic so far, it's well worth it. As well we now have the first POV change for most of a whole chapter. And the ending has the introduction of something/someone I have been waiting to introduce for a long time. For those who have played the new Batman: Arkham Knight game, you'll have a good idea of what to expect out of this, now.**

* * *

Chapter 18: It's Not Easy Being Green

**Jason POV**

Attacking fellow brothers, giving away the element of surprise, stealing an RPG, and using it on the target's house. Asgeir had been very busy. I opened the door into the observation room to the interrogation. Matthew stood behind Zar, who was seated in a chair by the window. I heard voices from the speaker.

"We can make this easy for you, Asgeir. It's your choice. You just need to explain your actions and tell us what you're hiding from us. Matthew says that everything you've done since you got here suggests you know something."

Asgeir was tied up in a chair by the wrists, hanging his head off to the side slightly forwards.

"I'll tell you everything. Under the condition I speak to Matthew and only him."

I heard a snort beside me as I stood behind Zar.

"That's not going to happen, bastard. You talk to me, and I talk to him."

"You will get what you want from me, but not in the way you're trying, rookie." Asgeir sneered. "Meet my demands, and I'll have my explanation for you."

"Are we even sure that this really is Asgeir, chief?" Zar said nervously. "He doesn't seem like himself."

Then, Asgeir looked directly at us through the window, and grinned. "'Ey Matthew!" He said, in a strange accent. "Before yah come inside to get the answers yah want in this noggin of mine, do me a favour, go upstairs, and fetch me a feckin' Guinness!"

Neither me nor Zar understood what Asgeir was talking about, wondering if he really did want a beer, or he was using some kind of code word to Matthew.

"What does that mean?" Zar asked. "Was that a Scottish accent he did?"

I shook my head. "Matthew?"

I glanced at the old Assassin beside me, waiting for an answer. He only stared at Asgeir with an anxious sort of puzzled expression. He kept looking at Asgeir strangely, then shook his head at himself.

"I think it's time that he and I had a real talk. When I go in there, shut off the microphones. This is between the two of us."

"What's this all about, Mentor?" I questioned, a little angrily. "There's something that you're not telling us."

"Yes, there is. It's something that needs to be kept between myself and Asgeir for the time being, because I've kept it a secret from him for so long for a reason. He couldn't find out."

"Find out what? Is this the reason why he blew up the farmhouse?" Zar asked.

"No, but it's why he's probably lost his faith in the Order. It's something I should have told him long ago. Please just understand that I'm doing what's best for him. Turn off the microphones."

I hit the switch at the table, and the speakers gave their last cry of feedback as they went out. Matthew breathed slowly, then walked in.

Zar and I sat beside each other as we watched what was going on in the interrogation room. Matthew dismissed the Assassin interrogating Asgeir and untied him. Asgeir rubbed his wrists and glared at Matthew, almost in a way as if his demands had not been met yet.

"I wish Troy and Rabbit were here. They'd be able to find out what they're saying in here."

Troy and Rabbit. The only pair of real brothers in our branch. Asgeir said that they were frozen by Ingrid along with Anna and Kristoff. No one could replace those warriors and what they did for the kingdom.

Matthew said a short statement to Asgeir, and he solemnly nodded in return. Then he angrily spat at his Mentor's feet and yelled out curse after curse at him. We could barely hear what he said due to the soundproofing of the room, but many of the words were every curse that Zar and I knew. There were a few terms that I didn't understand, but they sounded easily enough like offensive terms towards, well anybody.

"This isn't the Asgeir that we knew." Zar said as our brother thrashed and screamed at our Mentor, who only stood there and took it as calmly as I had ever seen out of anyone. "You think it was the Shattered Sight that made him blow up the house? It's afflicted him for so long."

"There's no doubt in my mind." I replied. "Asgeir and I read as much as we could on it, in hopes that we could cure him of it, since the worst pieces of the mirror were lodged into his eyes as well as his mind. But all we found is that killing Ingrid would be the only way he could cure what ailed him. All it really did to Asgeir was make him even more furious and determined to find Ingrid."

"But then why didn't he try and kill Ingrid already? She's working at that ice cream store on Main Street."

I shook my head. "I can't answer that. I don't know. I don't even know why he'd have lost his faith in us. Asgeir and I grew up with our hoods together. Whatever he learned in the last thirty years has clearly done something to him."

Asgeir continued yelling, but he was going so fast and emotionally, I couldn't read his lips even if I tried. When he had finished, Matthew tapped on the glass with his fist. He pointed to the table on our side, instructing us to turn the mics back on. Zar did so.

"Bring us four beers down here, boys. And come on in. Asgeir needs to tell us something."

Zar and I went up to the bar to get more beers from the taps. Zar helped himself to a Guiness, and took another for Asgeir. (I assumed he took that statement he said in that weird accent seriously.) I preferred a Kilkenny to that. We went back down into the Bunker and sat down in chairs that Matthew had brought in. We sat in a four-sided circle, the three of us looking at Asgeir.

"Well, Asgeir? What do you have to say for yourself?"

He sighed, shaking his head. He took a long swig of his beer, then dropped the glass to the ground beside his foot. It cracked, but did not shatter.

"Guys, they took my hood."

Why wouldn't that surprise me? It made as much sense to me as anything. It explained everything. But I couldn't believe it, and Zar put it perfectly in his own word.

"Bullshit."

"It's true, Zar. Just had a nice little chat with Bill Miles over the prepay. Turns out our own faithful American Mentor had made some decisions that he never even tried telling me about if he had any ways of contacting me."

"It was the Curse." Asgeir explained. "It started simple for the first few years I spent in this world, hoping I could find this town before Emma would be old enough. But most of the Assassins in this world didn't believe my stories about another world than this one. And the ones that did believed that my services were better spent jumping realms for them instead of finding this place, fighting war after war. One lasted over year and I saw things I wish I hadn't."

Asgeir continued. "Not long after I returned to this world from that war, I started showing signs of instability. The psychiatrists that Bill insisted I be put under therapy with said that I was under a severe case of PTSD from all this fighting. Maybe I was, but the Spell of Shattered Sight didn't help in the slightest. No one could find what was truly wrong with me, but not long after, Bill saw me do something that was the last straw for him."

He glanced at me, then Zar. "Have either of you heard of The Gates?"

Zar shook his head slightly. "Isn't that supposed to be some kind of mythical prison that the Assassins created in the Canadian wilderness? One that kills everyone that enters it?"

"Not a myth. It's very real, Zar. And I almost killed an innocent right there. Neil. I'm the reason he got out of Neverland in the first place. I threatened Pan to give him to me after I escaped the Curse, hoping that killing the boy would be my way of getting my revenge on Rumplestiltskin."

"You'd threaten an innocent soul? A child no less?" Matthew snapped. "Have you lost all your humanity?"

"I won't deny that, Matthew." He said. "Yes. Ingrid has taken my soul, my mortality, my family. And now my humanity. It's why I took such actions towards hurting Zelena by blowing up her house. Neil was a second chance for me to be the brother I never was to Anna and Elsa, and now he's dead because of that bitch."

I understood. I never knew my family. They sold me into the salt mines when I was a baby, and Asgeir's father Daniel saved me from that life, offering me a second chance. If I ever had any family that truly cared for me as Elsa and Anna cared for Asgeir, I'd do anything for them. I took a swig as he continued.

"Either way, Miles decided he would take drastic actions after I snapped. He stripped me of my hood, dumped me in The Gates, and then cuffed a GPS tracker onto my leg. He said that somewhere in my mind, there was some kind of solution to fixing what afflicted me. He was done trying to help me, and banished me there until I would finally shake off whatever was wrong with me. If I tried leaving the boundaries past Merritt or Kamloops, or take off the tracker, any chance I had of getting my hood back would die."

"That's why you're here." Zar realized. "You're going to kill both Zelena and Ingrid."

"Bill approached me over a week ago. He said that I'll be given back my hood if I kill both Zelena and Ingrid. He now believes my stories about the other worlds, and is worried that the threats that both of those witches pose could prove to be a risk to the entire world. Who's to say that after they're done with us, they aren't going to stop with Storybrooke and move to what's out there in this world. I'm here to stop them the only way I know how. But I can't do that in here."

"You may never get the chance to begin with." Our Mentor replied.

I turned to him in my seat. "What do you mean, Mentor?" I asked. "Asgeir's broken every tenant of the Creed since the First Curse began, but he's still gotta be the same brother we know. Please."

Matthew grimaced, clearly not pleased with the situation as much as I was. "Just because he has the name of the one we fought alongside doesn't mean he's immune to our laws. Normally I'd take his hood completely for his crimes, but the circumstances have also changed completely." He replied. "I see that the better option would be to take this to the table. Bring in all the Veteran Assassins and higher that we can, and within a week we'll vote on either keeping Asgeir with us, or stripping him of his hood entirely. Until then, Asgeir is not to leave The Bunker or Comac's. If he does, he's your responsibility, Jason."

Babysitting my oldest brother. What had the world come to? We both stood up.

"Better keep an eye on me, Jase." He smirked. "Bill often said I was a slippery bastard towards Templars and Assassins alike. It'd take a lot of luck to catch me if I escaped."

* * *

While Matthew and Zar went out to track down the few high ranking Assassins that Zelena hadn't turned into monkeys, Asgeir and I sat up in the bar. It was quiet, with the only sounds being the clack of billiards every minute or so with two novices playing their game, and the speakers playing an old Irish folk song by the name of "Molly Malone".

Asgeir sat across from me at the table we had in the corner of the pub. He spent most of his time watching the foam on the sides of his half-drank pint, not taking a sip. Occasionally he would look up at some of the sights around the bar. To any one person that walked in, they would look around the pub and see a regular Irish pub. To an Assassin, it was a monument towards our enemies.

I often had suggested to Matthew that we tear down most of the portraits or decorations that showed even a little pro-Templar propaganda, but he didn't agree to it.

"If we tear down everything we see, we're only closing our eyes to the truth." He had said. "This is how the Templars win: they close people's eyes and ears, and shove bullshit down their throats to make it look like they are what's best for this world. Everything that we see in this room is a reminder of how our enemy fights, and that our fight is never over."

Asgeir was now looking at a glass display case just above me.

"Is that really it?" He asked.

I turned in my seat and looked up at the case. Aside from a card explaining the importance of the contents inside, and a picture of Shay Cormac wielding it, the case held the weapon that every well informed Assassin should know: Cormac's Air Rifle. It lay on it's side on top of a folded black sail with the Templar Cross on it, which was apparently one of the sails that flew on Shay's brig, the Morrigan.

"Apparently it is, brother." I replied. "Almost everything in here is a tribute to Shay Cormac since he was supposedly the founder of this place. That was the tale, but now we know it's all a lie since this town has only existed for the last three decades. This place was something Regina had made to remind us of our failures. How we had made the mistake of trusting Shay into our fold, and he turned his back and slaughtered us. If it wasn't for Connor, we would have never bounced back against the bastards."

Asgeir took a long drink and finished his beer. "Have they talked yet about Neil's funeral?" He asked.

"I only know what I hear since not many of us speak to the townspeople. But yes, they are arranging to have Neil buried later this week. And Matthew and I agree that right or wrong on your actions doesn't matter. Neil was a brother to us even if he never took the hood and blade and became a true brother. It's your choice if you want to go to the funeral."

Asgeir only glimpsed at me solemnly, before looking back at the glass rifle case.

* * *

Matthew and I were asked by one of the scouts to report at the wreckage of the farmhouse while Zar and a few other guards were watching Asgeir, who would be kept at Cormac's until we had called the meeting of the council. When I was speaking on the phone with him on the drive over, he said that all Asgeir really did was sit there in his seat and not do anything aside from the occasion itch.

"It's amazing, brother." He said in bewilderment. "I'm looking at him right now and I would believe that he's dead if he wasn't moving every once in a while. It's kind of spooky."

"Keep an eye on him, Zar. You've got authorization to tranq him if he so much as looks at someone funny."

"Understood."

Matthew and I stopped about halfway up the driveway to the smouldering monstrosity on the hill. Already there were three vans with the teams working in and out of them as they swept up the debris, and three pickup trucks, where one served as a makeshift fire truck with hoses rigged in the canopy, and the other two being used as transport to carry away the debris. I also spotted the familiar yellow bug parked a bit closer to the wreckage.

When Matthew and I got out, an older Assassin by the name of Geoff came over. He was serving as the leader of the fire and cleanup crews for now, as evident by his hoodie.

A part of our operations here in Strybrooke had some of us serve timed schedules on the cleanup and fire crews we had. Every one of us did it at some point. This meant that if something that we had done had gotten too out of hand, the people on the cleanup crews at the time would help sweep away the mess and have it all finished by the time the good Sheriff would come along. Geoff was wearing the long red hooded coat to indicate he was part of the cleanup crews at the time.

"How bad is it?" Matthew asked as Geoff walked with us.

"Even for taking an RPG to this house, I've never seen such destruction on one house. Clearly Asgeir was aiming to obliterate this house, and aside from a few bits we were able to salvage, he's destroyed everything. Nothing here that we can use to find Zelena, or at least stop her plans. If the Witch was hiding anything important in this house, it's all been incinerated by his attack."

"Nah." I replied. "Asgeir told me about this Zelena witch before. She's smarter than she looks. She's more than likely established a contingency plan for this. We just need to find her."

"What were you able to salvage?" asked Matthew.

Geoff led us over to a blue tarp with all the evidence laid out for us. Sheriff Swan and her father stood off to the side, clearly waiting to talk with us.

Geoff went through each piece of evidence as best he could. "We found a few spellbooks, but they're all useless considering how the spells inside are all the basics. And most of the pages in them are burned, anyways. A charred bicycle right here, what remains of a wood stove, and a few pieces of spun gold from the Dark One."

Matthew shook his head, distressed. "This may have been evidence to prove Zelena was the Witch we were looking for, but it doesn't give us anything on what she's planning. It's useless!"

I glanced up from the evidence to Matthew, then to Geoff.

"That's Matthew's way of saying 'good job', Geoff. Keep the teams on standby for anything new that might pop up, and set up a perimeter around here. Now that the area is secure from Zelena, we can at least put up more defenses around here."

"You got it."

Matthew and I started for Swan and Charming before Geoff called over to me again.

"Hey, Jason! When you get the chance there's something else we need to discuss."

I looked back and waved before Swan and Charming approached us.

"What the hell happened here?" She demanded.

"Easy, fair one." Matthew replied. "We've got it under control."

"Under control? Someone used a military grade rocket launcher to blow an entire house to the ground. And I'm willing to bet that it was Asgeir, wasn't it?"

"He said take it easy, Swan." I said. "Yes, it was Asgeir, but he did not have the authorization to use those weapons in the first place. He disobeyed direct order from us and we've got him at our headquarters."

"May we speak to him?" Charming asked, more politely than his daughter. "We just have some questions that we think he can answer to help us track down Zelena."

"Afraid not." I replied. "Asgeir broke our rules, and until we call everyone together to decide his fate, he's not going anywhere outside Cormac's."

"Then maybe _you_ can answer our questions." Swan replied, coolly.

"There's not much we can say, Savior." Matthew said. "But we'll give you what we can."

"Alright." Swan began. "Let's start easy: why didn't you give us the info you had on Zelena? We could have stopped her from killing Neil, and maybe we might have known her plans, even."

"Look, even if we did," I said. "We would have lost the element of surprise. You've seen how we work to some degree, Sheriff. And we have seen how you work. You like to go out all heroic and mighty for the whole world to see. But everything we've done since the First Curse broke, you never even knew was happening. We were going to indirectly convince Zelena as best we could that we had no idea that she was the Witch, and then take her out when we got the chance. That was our plan from the start, and you would have only gotten in our way."

"Don't forget that what you do is considered illegal gang activity, buddy. When we get Zelena it'll be up to the ones who deliver the right justice to decide how to take care of her. Not criminal scumbags like you. Clean this place up and don't let me see you carrying open firearms out on the streets again."

Swan started for her bug while Charming held back for a moment.

"Sorry about that. She's on the edge right now."

"She's got every right, Nolan." I replied. "We lost a brother, but she lost a love."

When the last truck was loading up the final chunks of debris, Geoff called me over to discuss what was on his mind.

"Is it true what I heard about Asgeir? You guys have him locked up in The Bunker?"

Geoff and his recon teams worked out of a cul de sac close by to where The Outpost weapons cache was stationed. He rarely ever went to Comac's or The Bunker unless he was needed. They kept most of their operations in the massive forests around the whole town.

I nodded. "He's awaiting his judgement on whether or not he gets to keep his hood. Turns out William Miles had already taken it from him seven years ago, and that was the last the Assassins had heard from Asgeir since. He's come back from exile because Miles had given him the offer that if he helps us kill Zelena, and then Ingrid, he could get his hood back. Now I'm worried that Matthew won't agree with that offer considering that he's pretty much spat in our own faces by blowing up the house. And he's keeping secrets from us for no apparent reason that I can understand."

"So you're thinking that I'm going to be called up for the vote? To help decide if Asgeir keeps his hood?"

"It's a majority vote that's to be decided by every Assassin above the Veteran rank that we can gather by the end of this week. You're an Officer Assassin, so of course Matthew is going to approach you. And I want you to vote against stripping him of his hood. I don't know much on what's going on, but I know Asgeir doesn't deserve it no matter what he's done, and I want you to vote alongside me."

"Of course you do." He groaned. "Do you know if Matthew's voting in favour of removing Asgeir from the Brotherhood?"

"I have no idea." I replied. "I've never seen either of them in this state of mind. Matthew seems to know whatever secrets Asgeir uncovered, and it's making him paranoid. But what isn't clear is whether he's going to play favourites for essentially his adopted son, or if he will make the decision without any bias."

Geoff listened, then started rubbing his chin, deep in his thoughts. He had his answer for me soon enough.

"Whatever vote you make tonight, Jason." Geoff said. "I will stand alongside with you."

* * *

Matthew went off to track down the other high ranked Assassins while I went back to The Bunker to get the latest from Zar. He said a recent development in George's activity put three more labs on the map. It only made me laugh how Sheriff Swan could look the other way when not-so-hidden meth labs started popping up in Storybrooke, but gun-running was where the line was crossed.

When we first came to Storybrooke, every Assassin stationed here threw ethics and codes out the window. Unknowingly we all broke at least one tenet of the Creed as we were viewed as violent criminals carrying out the highest levels of illegal activities possible in this kind of town. Before the Curse was broken all I cared for was getting the next shipment and the dirty money that came with it. It's a guilt I still carry today. So when we heard that George had slunk off into the shadows and had been building his empire from the ground up in the form of a small drug operation with high Templar contacts on the outside, Zar and I knew that this was our chance to right our wrongs. Guns and drugs don't belong on the streets, but unlike George, we would never use our product the way that he intended to. Slowly poison the town until it's too late.

Zar and I started our own smaller task while Matthew took charge of the bulk of the Assassins alongside the other Masters and Keaton. Project Boden, we called our operations of taking down George and his hidden efforts to take down everyone that opposed him. Zar gave it the name when we were trying to come up with it, naming it after a classic tactic in chess where two bishops double team to take down the king.

Zar and the few novices we had working on the Project were waiting for me at the Bunker when I returned. We worked our own project out of a smaller room off to the side of the main operations room. The map on the table showed Storybrooke in it's entirety. One trek throughout the whole town would tell you that it's much larger than one would think. And George had taken advantage of the town's size to hide his drug manufacturing business much better than we thought. After the First Curse broke his followers ran thin, and so he turned to more unethical and illegal ways to provide himself with more followers to take us down. He had lost so many followers after he murdered an innocent to turn the town against Ruby, and so now he needed money to hire the guns he wanted to come back, stronger than ever. The drugs were to finance the whole thing, and while I could give two shits about some of the people here who thought of us as criminal pond scum for the last thirty years, neither I nor Zar could let the drugs poison Storybrooke.

"What's our latest development?" I asked.

Zar pointed to three new markers on the map. Each of them older suburban homes, and all of them hadn't been renewed in their insurance in years. This was the recurring pattern in every lab that George's followers were using, so it made it easier with every sweep to find the labs. However the circumstances of this whole town facing off against Pan and Zelena over the past few months made the Sheriff have to leave all the dirty work to us, and she didn't even notice that some people weren't paying their mortgages or insurance since the First Curse had been broken.

"Our scanners caught traces of George's methylamine gas coming out of these houses. He's been busy while we're looking for Zelena."

"Eh, he thinks that he's won because no one has bothered him for over a year. We'll get him soon. How's the hardware look on the houses?"

Zar pulled up pictures onto the screens on the wall. I saw about five thugs armed with pocket knives and baseball bats. Amateurs.

"These are thermal scans of one of the houses. They barely have the hardware to protect against rats, so I'm betting that we can take it right now."

I sat down on the table's edge looking at the screens. "It seems like a fair strategy, but of course there's the chance that one of them could end up alerting George too soon. We need to make sure we have the element of surprise on our side as well as coordination. We stick to the plan, and once we're sure we've located every lab in Storybrooke, we hit them all at once. George won't even have time to scratch his arse before one of us puts a blade through his neck."

"And is that still going to be Asgeir?"

I looked over at the novice who had asked that question. For a second he retained his expression of overreaching his position, before realizing whom he was talking to, and regressing back to his computer.

"Torren has a point, Jason." Zar said. "It was Matthew that asked Asgeir to be the one to take out George when given the chance. Is he still in play?"

"I don't know. Matthew and I are still notifying the Veterans about the upcoming vote at the end of the week."

"Do you think he's going to be exiled back to The Gates?"

"Again Zar, I don't know."

Zar often confided in Asgeir for reassurance. He almost viewed him as an older brother, since he was a few years younger than him and I. I could only see dread in Zar's expression.

I grabbed Zar by the arm. "Asgeir is not going to lose his hood, Zar. I can't let that happen. He's my brother same as yours. You've always looked up to him. You'd do whatever it took to help him. Help him the way I mean to: we convince whom we can that taking Asgeir's hood away is wrong. We're better than those stuck up Mentors who thought themselves above people like Arno. The arseholes who simply took their brothers' hoods away for their own personal gain. I've seen Asgeir fight for the Creed. I've seen him kill Templars, chain their rings to his neck and then say the words to them as they died. He's still that same person. Maybe not entirely, but you and I have to believe that he's still there."

"Asgeir keeps his hood." Agreed Zar. "Make no mistake."

* * *

They had the funeral three days from then. Nice graveyard just on the outskirts of the town. So many people showed up to say goodbye to Neil. I don't think I ever talked to him or ever knew him aside from that moment I had seen him in the hospital only hours before he died. But he was a friend of Asgeir's, and a brother to me. Distant and unofficial, but I knew he was a good man simply because he had known Asgeir. I stood outside the crowd of people around the grave as I watched on.

Asgeir followed a custom that some of us Assassins do at funerals. If the fallen brother is buried, an eagle's feather is dropped into the grave as any brothers who mourn him drop their part of the dirt into the grave. Connor started it with Achilles, and we have done it ever since. Asgeir dropped the feather on the dirt mound on the shovel, before dropping that into the grave.

* * *

They had the wake at Granny's diner afterwards. It was nicer than I ever thought it was. Cormac's had an interior that was made to look out like most pubs in Ireland, but Granny's had a more modern upbringing. Asgeir introduced me to two of his friends at the wake.

"Red, and Cindy." He said to them. "This is my brother at arms, Jason."

They both clearly didn't think high of me judging by the looks they gave me as I sat down.

"Yeah." Cindy said, snidely. "We know him better as Aaron Milburn here. Lead enforcer on the gun running shipments here in Storybrooke. Wasn't really the nicest person in town here."

I shifted in my seat. "Weren't we all people we were not when this Curse hit? Asgeir and I fought alongside each other as closely as anyone ever could."

"Jason was a big player in our war against Regina. He just spent a lot more time in the shadows than I did. We're all on the same side, now."

They seemed to lighten up a little, now that they had Asgeir's reassurance.

"That's good to hear." Red replied. "Hey, did you hear about that farmhouse the Witch was in? Apparently one of the Assassins blew it up."

Asgeir gave the slightest twitch in his seat. He took a long drink of his ale while I gave the story we had agreed on.

"Actually I heard that the pilot light on the stove in there had gone out. Gas flooded the whole building. Even the slightest spark could have sent the whole thing up in flames. At least that's what we've been hearing as Assassins."

"Even so, it's nice to have some sort of retribution for what the Witch has done to us so far." Cindy replied. "Blown up by gas explosion, or whatever, it's a start for what she's done. Neil was a good man."

"A great man." Asgeir said. He held up his pint. "In the Assassins we have a saying for fallen brothers. Requiescat in Pace."

"Requiescat in Pace." The girls and I echoed with our toast.

The door suddenly flew open. The sneering ginger came in with the Dagger in her hands.

"My condolences!" She taunted. "So sorry I missed the funeral, but I could never pass up a wake!"

I couldn't stop Asgeir as he stood up and started for Zelena, but he was beat by Swan. She started for Zelena, but Snow grabbed her arm.

"Emma, no." She whispered. "Too many people will get hurt."

Zelena snickered. "Listen to your mother." She commanded. "Anyone who tries to interfere with my plan is going to have to deal with the Dark One!" She held up the Dagger to demonstrate.

Asgeir cracked his knuckles. "Not all of us are afraid of him, Cabbage Face."

Zelena only laughed. "As if destroying my house wasn't enough for you. I've got no time for you, Assassin." She took a few steps towards Snow.

David stood in between them. "Don't come any closer!" He warned.

Zelena smirked that smile that made me want to punch her in the face. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not here for your baby. Not today, anyway."

Courage and a baby? Those were odd things for a Witch to want unless she had some kind of strange spell she was casting. And that seemed to be the idea.

"Then why are you here?" Regina demanded.

Zelena turned towards the former Templar Queen. "Now that my cover's blown, I can finally pay a visit to my little sister."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" She replied lowly, clearly either pissed or confused. Her frown made it difficult to decide.

"Why you, of course, Regina." Zelena said, flatly.

No one in the room who wasn't wearing a white hoodie could believe this news. I heard a few expressions of "What?!" from a few people in the room. Ashley was one of them, while Red's mouth simply hung open.

Regina wasn't buying it, though. "I'm an only child." She claimed.

"Cora lied to you, Regina." The ginger snapped back. "I'm your sister. Half, if you want to get technical."

I wondered then if Asgeir's meeting with Elsa and Anna was this awkward. Though that seemed unlikely considering the fact that while Asgeir was an Assassin who killed had several people right in front of them before they had accepted him as their blood, he was neither insane, nor wished to kill either of them. At least not at the time was he insane.

"Why should I believe anything you say?" Regina said, challenging the statement set before her.

"Oh, well you shouldn't!" Zelena replied. "It's a lot to swallow, which is why I've brought a gift to help."

"I don't want a gift from you!" Regina said, chuckling.

"Oh, but you shall have it." The Witch replied, reminding me of that day when Regina made her threat of the Dark Curse so many years ago.

"You see, my gift to you," She continued. "is this sad, sad day. Use it to dig into our past, Regina. You need to learn the truth, and you must believe it. And then meet me on Main Street. Say, sundown."

What, like some kind of shootout? I swear, what had our enemies come to? Asgeir turned his sights from George to this?

"And then, what?" Regina asked.

"Then I'll destroy you."

"This isn't the Wild West." Regina sneered, as if reading my thoughts on how stupid this sounded.

"No, dear." Zelena shot back. "It's the Wicked West."

Asgeir's face said exactly what I was thinking, and nothing more. If he wouldn't kill her for that line alone, I'd drive a good shot right through her eye myself.

"And I want everyone to be there to see the Evil Queen lose!" Zelena called out to all the rest in the diner.

"I don't lose." Regina replied, smirking.

"Neither do I." She said. "One if us is about to make history." She leaned towards Regina. "See you tonight, sis."

She started for the door, chuckling. Before she got there, Asgeir suddenly stood right in front of her.

"Out of my way, Assassin." She snapped.

In response, Asgeir spat right at Zelena's feet. The whole diner gasped in surprise.

"Has he gone nuts?" Red whispered.

I only stood by as I saw Zelena suddenly stab Asgeir in the chest with the Dagger. He only looked down at the spot, and then back at her.

"Cheap shot. You feel better about it?"

Zelena pulled the Dagger out of his chest, a little surprised. "Whatever magic afflicts you, it's no match for me. The next time you dare try to oppose me, I'll ensure you go down. Permanently."

She stormed out slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"Care to explain just what the hell is going on?!"

"What is there really to explain?" Asgeir said. "She stabbed me, but I've taken a few wounds like that before."

"No." Red replied. "I've never seen anyone take a knife to the chest like you did. Shouldn't you at least be bleeding, or dying? You didn't even flinch!"

"Asgeir, look at them. If you're not going to tell them, I will."

Asgeir sighed, finished his beer, and then started. "Where Jason, myself, and the other Assassins in our branch come from, ice magic is a common sight there. It's not like magic practiced anywhere else, and it can be more dangerous than anything else if it's in the wrong hands. Someone from that world hit me with two curses at once, one of which involved freezing my heart. At first it seemed like nothing really changed, but when we faced off against your mother all those years ago, Red, I discovered that I could not physically die at all. Quinn had bit me, but my wounds weren't there when I checked. Somehow all this magic that has been thrown at me combined into an unstable affliction on me. I can't die. At all."

"I think I saw something like that." Ashley said. "That night when I saw you fight off against all those sellswords Tremaine had hired to protect herself, I saw several get you, but you didn't even strain yourself."

"You're right, Cindy." Asgeir replied. "But it's gotten worse over the years. I've encountered even more symptoms to my affliction that have only gotten worse. It's why I'm here. I heard that the apparent cure for what ails me lies in Storybrooke, and I need to get back with the Assassins to free myself from it."

"What exactly has happened to you over time?" Red asked. "Does this have something to do with why I found you on the floor of the Diner a few days ago?"

"Yes, Red." He replied. "Now what afflicts me includes severe cases of sleepwalking, nightmares, outbursts of crazed anger, and…hallucinations. Occasionally."

That might explain the reason why Asgeir fired the RPG at Zelena's house. He may have been under the influence of the Spell of Shattered Sight at the time. No one can resist such a curse forever like he's tried.

"So it's true, then?"

I looked up. Tinkerbell had just walked up and was looking down at Asgeir. He was smiling a little at her, reminding me of how they were friends long ago.

"Tink." He said. "Nice to see you, again."

"Yes, Asgeir. It is. But you didn't answer the question. Is it true that you were the one that caused the explosion at the farmhouse? Blue is furious considering that there could have been a way to track her had you not been so reckless."

"Oh, Blue can go stuff it." Asgeir replied, a little angrily. "She'd find fault with me if I were to save this town of every Templar and freakish blight that plagued this town. I would never take back what I did to Zelena considering what she did. Neil was my brother, Tink, Why are you even siding with Blue?"

"Neil was my friend as well. And this isn't what he would have wanted you to do on his behalf. If you really want to take down Zelena, you'll listen to what others think of you. Some of the people who have caught their glimpses of you are afraid of you, Asgeir."

"Good." He replied. "They should be."

I couldn't believe it. "Asgeir, it's not good." I replied. "We're not supposed to scare people. We're supposed to help innocents and strike fear only in those who deserve it. Can you really say that you deserve to keep your hood if I told Matthew what you just said? What would your father think?"

Asgeir glowered at me. "Don't you dare, Jason. You don't know anything about my father or what he would want out of me. You don't know anything about me, either. You know absolutely nothing that gives you the right to judge me and say that this is not what my father would want out of me. There are some things that he kept from me with no real good reason." Asgeir got up and started for the door.

"If you're going to find Zelena or the other bitch, you have another thing coming, brother!" I called over to him.

"Fine." He shot back. "Send a novice to baby-sit me. I'm still waiting for my turn to take a real shot at that green faced whore!"

He headed out the door just as I pointed over to one of the Assassins in the diner, and signalled for him to follow. Tink looked over at me.

"You're Jason?"

"That's right." I replied. "Asgeir told me about you. Made friends with him while he was still getting a name for himself as the White Reaper."

"He spoke often about you to me as well. Said he was the one brother he trusted the most. What's happened to him all this time?"

"What happens to too many of us: he was bent too hard. And we all know to things that won't bow when they get bent."

* * *

When Zar confirmed over the radio that Asgeir had returned to Cormac's, I called in several of the Assassin teams to help lock down the streets and make sure no interference would come. The teams came in to set up barricades at the ends of the streets we needed cover from. David, Swan, Tinkerbell and I started going through the positions we needed cover.

"If we position someone there, there, and there." David said, pointing. "We'll have the whole street covered."

"I'll talk to Blue, see if we can get reinforcements." Tink said as we walked over to the middle of the intersection.

"No." Swan replied. "You heard Zelena. She said no interference. She might order Gold to level half the block if we try something before she gets a crack at her sister." Even she was still finding it hard to believe.

"So they really _are_ sisters?" Tink asked.

Snow had just walked up. "She found a letter in her vault confirming it." She said.

"Where is she? Regina?" David asked his wife.

"She disappeared. Something in that letter upset her."

"Should we try to find her?" Tink asked.

"No." Swan repeated. "Regina was pretty clear. She didn't want any help on this one."

"So you're going to let her walk into this fight alone?" David asked.

"No, she's going to get help whether she wants it or not."

Belle was confused. "B-but- but you just said we can't interfere."

"Because Zelena has Gold on her side." Swan replied. "We need to remove him from the equation. It's the only way Regina has a fighting chance. We just need to get his Dagger."

"Did you see that bitch?" I said. "She practically has that thing forged to her hand."

Suddenly Belle piped up. "Wait, wait." She said. "What if I were to get through to Rumple without the Dagger?" She offered.

Snow glimpsed at Swan. "It's worth a try. Regina can't do this alone."

Emma took a second, then nodded at Belle. "Fine. Do what you can. Aaron, is there something that you have in mind?" She asked me.

"We're gonna at least need a few teams of Assassins to make sure this whole thing gets contained. I can maybe set up some of my gear on one of the rooftops and have our teams set up barricades. If Zelena loses we might have a way of taking her down non-lethally."

"Which is why I was going to ask Blue for reinforcements." Tink replied.

"Look, Tink." I said. "Asgeir trusts you, so I do. But don't even think for a second that I'm going to trust Blue or any other fairy on this job. This is something only we can keep contained. Nothing can change that."

Tink glared at me. "You wanna start, Assassin? There's a good reason why Blue hates most of you."

"I don't care who keeps the fight from causing collateral damage." Swan suddenly snapped. "Someone just needs to get it done. Aaron, if you have a plan of taking down Zelena if Regina fails, then you have the go ahead to set it up. But no one else needs to get hurt. Can't have what's happened before with us while this Curse was happening. Too many people got shot or worse."

"Needn't worry, Sheriff. Never missed a shot in my life. The Assassins don't use nicknames like 'Aeroshot' lightly."

* * *

When I got back to The Bunker, Matthew was in his office with Keif, going over ammunition reports.

"Jason." He exclaimed as I walked in. "What's going on?"

"Zelena's made her threat on the town." I explained. "She's challenged Regina to a duel and demands the whole town be there to witness her defeat."

"Ah, this greedy broad thinks she can take on the Queenie Templar?" Keif groaned. "Not a chance. Cost me my leg when I went up against her during the war."

"In any case, brothers." I continued. "Asgeir would know more about Zelena's threat than anyone since he faced off against her a long time ago before we returned to Arendelle. But given the current situation, he shouldn't fight her."

"Agreed. I was just discussing his fate with Keif."

"We need a backup in case Regina fails, and I see no other option than doing what I should have done a while ago. Let me be the one to take her down."

Matthew glimpsed at Keif. The two of them were the oldest Assassins in the former Arendelle branch, and were the last living members from back when Daniel Swortssen was Mentor.

"You have everything you need to set it up?"

"My rifle is loaded up and I have a killer itch on my trigger finger."

"Do it."

* * *

My locker with all my gear was in another part of the Bunker, where most other Assassins stored their weapons. I opened up my locker and grabbed what I could carry over to the rooftop I had scoped out.

While I had no real issue with using my hidden blades to take out targets when I needed to, I have found often that a sniper rifle can do the job just as well. My own rifle I kept here in this world for a long time, and have used it mostly when I shadow other Assassins. Mostly I attach a custom silencer to the barrel and pick off the guards that less experienced Assassins don't see. As I started assembling the rifle, I grabbed the thermal scope considering how our weather equipment was estimating fog tonight. At the distance I was planning to set up, and where I assumed the battle would take place, I needed the tool that would give me the upper hand to ensure I kept my reputation. "The One Who Never Missed." They called Ryan the Rogue that name until he missed his shot trying to kill Elsa, and then they passed the name onto me when Asgeir killed him.

The last thing I grabbed after my backpack with the rest of my nest gear was my good luck charm: a Philadelphia Eagles baseball cap. Assassin snipers typically wear baseball caps backwards when they're set up, but I found when I got that hat from Keif during my first mission in this world, my shots became even better than they already were. If that was possible.

* * *

Matthew sent Asgeir to sit up in the nest with me once we were ready. He sat on the edge of the wall on the roof while I clicked open the tripod on my rifle and rested it on the edge of the building.

"Argon comm. check." I spoke into my radio.

"Reaper comm. check." Asgeir said as well.

"This is Kingshark." Zar replied over the radio. He would be overseeing the whole thing on a smaller drone we had flying above Main Street. "We have connections established with both Golf and Romeo Team Trucks. All teams check in."

"Golf team on standby."

"Romeo team on standby."

"Remember. Mission is to ensure the duel between Queenie and the Primary Target doesn't reach the civvies present. Mission is a go once Primary Target appears." We heard Zar say.

"Affirmative." I replied as I let go of my sniper. The back end of it dropped down and rested gently on the ground, the barrel pointed upwards.

"So this is the kinds of ops we do, now? What am I supposed to do?" Asgeir asked.

"Easy. You spot me and confirm any shots that I make. You're supposed to watch me and essentially just buddy up. You never heard of a spotter?"

"Sounds more like you're babysitting me. Not the other way 'round."

"Call it what you like." I replied. "Just don't do anything stupid considering I had Zar confiscate every weapon you had on you after confronting Zelena today."

"Argon, come in."

I grabbed my sniper and peered through the thermal scope. A small lake of orange on blue glowed on the street away from us. Our nest was set up on the bakeshop a block away from the clock tower. I saw two figures walking towards the area. The Assassin trucks and teams were set up at opposite ends of the street.

"Go for Argon."

"We got eyes on Primary Target. Please advise."

The two figures must have been Zelena and Rumpelstiltskin. I couldn't confirm that it was them with this kind of scope, so Asgeir looked through his binoculars to try and confirm through the fog.

"I can't see much right now, but I can confirm that it's them." He said. "Repeat, we have eyes on the Primary Target. 100 yards out."

I gave the elevation adjustment on the scope a few turns before setting the crosshair right on Zelena's head. She started approaching the crowd of people. A smaller man stood in front of her, but as soon as she told him off he backed away. The crowd stood around Zelena, but no one dared approach.

"Argon, this is Golf Team. Queenie is not here." He paused. "Primary Target's just issued her threat. We have five mikes before she unleashes the Dark One on the town."

"That's it." Asgeir said, standing up. "I can't sit back while she could take down this whole town. I should be down there trying to take her out."

"Negative." I snapped. "Kingshark please advise."

"Eye in the sky cannot confirm Queenie is in vicinity. Primary Target isn't bluffing. It's your call."

I took the magazine with the non-lethal rounds out of the rifle and replaced them with the lethal shots. I didn't say to Asgeir that I was considering taking the head shot at Zelena if she made good on her threat, considering what kind of actions he had been making since he had arrived in town. I was even wondering in that moment why I had asked those other Assassins to vote with me and save his chances of keeping his hood.

* * *

Five minutes passed. Just as Zelena looked at the clock on the tower, Swan approached her and appeared to offer to duel her in Regina's stead. Zelena only sneered at Emma, then waved the Dagger. Rumpelstiltskin used his magic to push Emma into two other civilians present.

"If you want to take the shot Argon, now's the time."

I wanted to, but that was what was stopping me. I didn't become an Assassin to kill people because I wanted to, and I swore to myself that I wouldn't let vengeance or anger cloud my judgment. Asgeir was too far gone, but I knew it wasn't too late for me. If I were to take the shot, it would be because I had to, not want to.

"Come on, Jason. Time's up." Asgeir said.

That fact was only reinforced by how Zelena was stalking around the crowd, holding up the Dagger, snarling and snapping like a rabid dog. Suddenly, I picked up another figure in the scope approaching the crowd. There was no doubting who it was, even with how ironically blind the scope made me.

"It's Regina." Zar said. "Queenie is here. Hold your fire. Let's let them at each other."

"Romeo Team here." I heard over the radio. "We're switching on the mics. You might want to hear this."

We heard more voices coming through the radio as we heard the sharp squeak of feedback coming from a new mic coming online.

"So you've finally accepted me into the family?" We heard Zelena. I kept my scope trained directly onto her head just in case.

"I've accepted that we shared a mother, yes." Regina admitted. "But I still have one question: What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I heard Zelena and Asgeir say almost in unison. "You were born." She snarled on her own.

Regina suddenly slapped Zelena right across the face in response.

She grinned. "I've been waiting to do that all day."

"Rumpelstiltskin can't save you this time." Zelena shot back. "He should have chosen me!"

"Who?'

"Rumpelstiltskin!"

"_What_?" I thought to myself. "Is this seriously what this is about?"

"_That's_ what this is about?" Regina said in slight surprise, echoing what I was thinking. "You're jealous of me?"

I rolled my eyes. "This is bullshit." I said. "Whatever happened to the first grade Templars we used to kill? Now we're trying to kill a witch quite literally green with envy!"

"Can't always get what you want." Asgeir admitted. "But at least we can agree on that. The villains we have now have really gone downhill."

Suddenly Regina reached up and pulled down the streetlamp with her magic. She tossed it at Zelena, who parried it away.

"You still don't realize what you had!" She sneered. "You never did! You got everything I ever wanted and you didn't even deserve it! But I'm gonna take it all from you!"

She forced Regina onto a nearby car, angrily. At this time I was now considering pulling the trigger, now thinking it was more like putting a suffering animal out of it's misery than killing a Witch. I'd seen so many Templars chasing butterflies, but this was taking it to one really stupid and pointless effort.

Regina got up from the car and started towards Zelena. She summoned a fireball in her hands, but Zelena threw her hand out and suppressed it. Then she held her up by the throat, suspended in the air.

"You can't beat me, little sis." She snickered. "Everything Rumpelstiltskin taught you, he taught me, too! But I was the better student."

Better student, my arse. Someone has a swollen ego. Zelena hurled Regina up towards the clock in the tower, smashing her through the glass. She then vanished in a poof of green smoke.

"GolfTeam here. We have no eyes on the Primary Target."

"10-4 with Romeo."

"Yeah, we got the same." Asgeir said. "Kingshark, please advise."

"I'm getting orders from Matthew. If you think that what you have is powerful enough to take down the Dark One, take the shot, Argon."

I started aiming towards Rumpelstiltskin, but suddenly he vanished, too. The crowd started scattering in fear.

"Both targets have escaped." I said.

"There's no point in staying out there any longer." Zar said. "Return to base."

"Returning to base." We heard on both Romeo and Golf's sides.

"10-4." Zar replied. "All teams return to base for debriefing. Let's pack it up, friends."

Asgeir started packing up all the gear in the water cooler we had carried it in, then jumped off the roof and slid down the drainpipe to the truck we had in the alley below. After disassembling my rifle, I followed and we headed back for Cormac's.

* * *

After our debriefing with Matthew, he pulled both me and Zar aside.

"The Veterans are here as we speak getting ready to cast their votes on Asgeir's expulsion." He said. "If you still haven't made your decision on you vote, now's the time. But I'd really consider carefully whatever vote you'd cast." He looked hard at me as he said this. Then he walked out.

"So are we still making that vote?" Zar said to me.

I nodded. "Asgeir has done a lot of things wrong already, but he's still on of us. I hope he is, at least. What kind of Assassin doesn't lose their way at one point in their life or another? And then there's Ingrid. We have a huge storm coming and he's the only one of us who truly knows what kind of threat we're up against."

"What about Matthew?" Zar asked. "Didn't he say he knew Ingrid?"

"Yeah, he said that a few times. But Asgeir was there when he saw Ingrid try and kill everyone who she either suspected opposed her, or openly did so. And don't even get me started on our numbers. Even with the amount of novices we have to spare, we're shorter than ever on masters. We need as many as we can get."

* * *

Zar and I took our seats around the table. While he sat to my right, I sat at Matthew's right. The only seat that wasn't filled around the table was Asgeir's. He just stood at the end of the table opposite to Matthew.

"Alright." He began. "As you all know we had a little disruption in our fight against Zelena. Asgeir has come before us with the charges that he stole weapons from The Outpost, and he also admitted that he's broken every tenet of the Creed since the First Curse struck. I ended up talking with Bill Miles over the phone a few days ago. He said that he banished Asgeir to The Gates over seven years ago, and the reason he was released is because killing both Zelena and Ingrid will give him a somewhat full pardon. However the actions I've seen Asgeir commit suggest instability, and symptoms that make him unfit for duty. Which is why I called this vote. But before we start, I want you Asgeir." He pointed at him. "How do you plead with these charges you face?"

"Guilty, Mentor." He replied.

"Alright." Matthew replied. "Since you have admitted guilt of your crimes, by our laws you are given one vote towards keeping your hood."

"Gentlemen." He continued. "You all know the procedure. We go around the table and each of us will cast the vote. Majority vote wins. Vote 'yes' if you wish Asgeir to keep his hood and title, and 'no' if you do not."

As he spoke, I looked around the table. There weren't that many Masters in our wing of the Order, so a lot of the Veterans that stood around the table were from the branches in the Enchanted Forest. I counted a good nineteen around the table.

"I will start by saying 'nay'. Proxy vote for Keaton to say 'nay' since he's not present."

The vote passed to me. I clenched my teeth a little. Matthew had just publicly announced his distrust of Asgeir, and used the proxy vote against him. Quivering angrily, I growled out a "Yay."

Zar nodded to Asgeir. "Yay."

"Yay."

"Nay."

"Nay."

"Yay."

"Nay."

"Nay."

"Nay."

Seven to five. These people had forgotten what kind of person Asgeir used to be. The kind I had hoped he still was.

"Yay."

"Nay."

"Yay."

"Yay."

"Yay."

"Nay."

Tied up. Geoff sat across from me to Matthew's left with the empty seat in between them I glared hard at him. He looked at Matthew, who was also glaring at him. He shook his head at Matthew.

"Yay."

I only heard a breathe of relief at the far side of the table as each Assassin either cheered or kept silent.

"Motion denied." Matthew said curtly, banging the gavel. "Looks like we're stuck with you for a while, son."

Asgeir narrowed his eyes over at Matthew as he walked out of the room. The other Assassins started filing out. I got up and started out with Zar, but I heard something.

"Talk to you for a minute?"

I glanced back at Matthew, then talked back to Zar.

"I'll catch up. First round's on me."

"Alright! C'mon, Asgeir! Jason's buying." He ran out with his brother.

I sat down at my seat, taking off my Eagles hat.

"What were you doing?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No idea what you mean."

"You told off as many Assassins as you could and convinced them to vote for Asgeir to stay with us."

I slammed my hand on the table. "I took the hood when I was twelve, Matthew." I snapped. "Asgeir and I were the closest of friends and we were taught all we know by you. Don't you remember any of that?"

"I'll never forget it. Asgeir was the son I never had."

"And yet you voted against him right then and here."

"Because I had asked the others to follow your plan."

"What?"

"I knew that you'd convince as many of us as you could to throw the vote. I taught you everything you know. I told off a couple other Assassins. Oh sure, there needed to be some people who would vote against Asgeir's actions. You think being Mentor or even a Master doesn't mean you get second-guessed by any clever little shite with a tongue? This is more than just about whether Asgeir deserved to keep his hood or not. This was me testing him to see if he's truly ready to one day take my place as Mentor of this branch. Being Mentor means you always have your choices getting second guessed by every little shite with a mouth. But it's only when he starts second guessing himself that it means the end for us all. If I see Asgeir stand by every one of his decisions from here on out, I'll know he's ready."

I always pictured Asgeir taking that mantle as his father once held it, but this was not how I thought it would happen.

"So you still want Asgeir to keep his hood?"

"This was partly about what he and I discussed in the interrogation room a few days ago. That secret that he discovered long ago was one that his father and I had known a long time and kept from him for several reasons. Yet despite his discovery, I still see a true Assassin in him. But he may have to try and prove himself yet again."

I got up from my chair. "Yeah." I said. "I get it. You want to see if some of us are even worthy of the hood that we wear. But here's the thing you don't seem to remember, Matt: Once you understand what the Creed stands for, there's no going back for you. Asgeir still has it, even without that stupid test you tried on him. Now he doesn't trust you anymore because of you testing him. And you know what?"

Matthew was about to ask what when I socked him right in the nose. He fell back as his chair fell over. I started for the door.

"Now I don't, either."

* * *

**Asgeir POV**

Jason, Zar and I spent the night away drinking glass after glass of whatever we felt like as the night went on. At around the fifth pint, the bell above the door rang and someone stepped in.

"We're closed, Your Majesty." Kevan the barkeep said.

"That's alright." She replied. "I'm just here to see Asgeir."

I looked up. While I was still pretty dizzy from drink, I could see it was Regina who stood in front of me.

"Reginaa!" I slurred a little. "Sorry. I'd stand up but I don't fink I'm in the right fame of mind."

She smiled a little. "Yes, it looks like you've a had a bit too much. I just wanted to drop something off I thought you might want."

She pulled off the red glove on her right hand, then something silver off her finger. She placed it on the table.

"Not worth it, anymore. Best of luck on the next one." She turned and walked out the door.

"What is it?" I said, holding up the little metal object. It felt circular in my hand with a hole in it, but the name for said object escaped me at the moment. I closely looked at the object, and just as I made out the small Red Cross on it, another headache hit me. I winced as the visions came flooding into my head.

"Admit it! I nearly had you!"

"A pity. The boy has so much potential. But so little discipline!"

"YOU MADE ME SLAUGHTER INNOCENTS!"

"So Cabbage Farmer. Are you still convinced the Templars are right?"

"Then perhaps we should start a Revolution of our own!"

"I make my own luck, Liam!"

"Hey! Asgeir! You alright?"

I snapped my eyes open. Jason looked over at me, looking worried.

"Are you alright? You're not looking so hot, brother."

I felt a hand on my arm as someone took the seat next to me. Someone that Jason nor Zar could see, nor hear.

"He's alright, lad. He's just had a bit too much to drink." He said to Jason.

A black coat with a red vest, his air rifle strapped to his back, and a smug expression on his face. He had haunted me for the last several months, and I knew that there was still no ridding him until I killed Ingrid.

"I'm fine, Jason." I said. "In fact, I'm more than fine. I'm the luckiest bastard under this roof."

"Hah!" The ghost said to me. "You had to have your hood saved by your Assassin brothers, and you call it luck. Me? I make my own luck, Asgeir!"


	19. Chapter 19: Far Behind Us

**A/N: Glad to be back to bring you guys more of this. It took my friend a lot longer than he expected to proofread all this because he was so busy. With Season 5 starting up(looks pretty awesome! Still on the fence on bringing Asgeir into it.) I want to get started on Season 4 as soon as I can, which is why I'm releasing 2 chapters at once here. I might do it again with the next set of chapters, which I plan on both being flashbacks. The first chapter shows the flashbacks of Bleeding Through in the eyes of Asgeir's grandfather, who had known Cora. And the second flashback chapter I will save as a surprise. All I will say is that I'm skipping the episode "The Jolly Roger" beacuse it was kind of a waste of time even with the Ariel plot. The Snow and Charming subplot was stupid, and everything that happened in it could have been shrank down to a briefer subplot in another episode. I'm skipping this one to do something better. So expect the surprise chapter to be coming along with the "Bleeding Through" flashbacks. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 19: Past- Far Behind Us

It was more than just a simpler time when I was young. It was an easier life. Happier, even. I won't say I was happy running from the Templars with no real home or aim in life aside from "hide" and "survive" as the goals for the day. I wasn't even all that happy knowing that I had two sisters out there that could have been my family as opposed to my now-dead father. But what I faced though my earlier years beat slaughtering people one by one on my anger induced path of vengeance to find and kill Ingrid. There were good reasons my hood was taken from me, if I'm being honest with myself now.

Matthew had taken my father's place as Mentor when I was 6, after he had been captured and executed in Arendelle's town square. I'll never forget the look on my father's face as the blade fell onto his neck. He only looked at me from far away as the other Assassins and I escaped the town. And he smiled at me. Six years old, and I saw my own father's head cut off for crimes that Agdar only made up so that people didn't call the death of my father murder. And in all honesty, I think the real reason that he killed my father was not because he was a Templar, and my father an Assassin. It was because of me. How I came into this world through an Assassin Mentor and his wife, Gerda.

To see my own father die in front of me would make any child cry their eyes out for most of their early years, accept that their father was the man that king said he was, wish that they hadn't gotten swept up in this bloody war in the first place, and try their best to move on. But I've always been an Assassin. My father before me, and his father before him, and his father before him, they were all Assassins that fought as I did. It's always been in my blood. Too many will only roll over and give themselves up to the Templars out of fear. So if they would not take them down, whom else to take the blades than us?

I took the rank of novice at the age of 9. I killed my first high-ranking Templar within a year of that time, and when I was 15, I became the youngest living Master Assassin of our branch. I took up arms against scoundrels by the names of Prince John, and King George. Through fighting them I met Robin of Locksley, and it was how we became such good friends. Ironically, it was because of most of the Templars I fought that I met my closest friends and brothers.

I've read how most fathers would keep much of the Assassins hidden from their sons, but not mine. I always seemed to think Daniel was upfront and honest with me as best he could. He raised me to learn as much as I could about the other worlds and our war across them, and when I was 5, he revealed the truth about my mother and the family she was starting with Agdar. He always seemed to think that Gerda cared for me in some light, and when I saw the first picture of Elsa and Anna, I felt a real uplift for once in my life. I had a family that was still alive then.

After my father was killed, I kept that memory as close to me as I could. If I were allowed to catch glimpses of both my sisters, they would only be for split seconds, especially when Agdar locked the gates. By then I could only remember seeing Anna regularly knock on Elsa's door, hoping that she would leave her room and play with her again. There were times where I could only watch from afar in the shadows of the castle halls, and the looks that Anna gave around the castle as I snuck around only gave me more assurance that she knew I was watching. She couldn't figure out exactly what it was that was watching over her, but I knew that she could feel me around.

* * *

One fall, when I was 17, Matthew had called me to the Cracked Lute, an inn run by a small group of Assassins in Misthaven. When I arrived I was sent to the cellar meeting room where I saw him talking with an Assassin who only looked to be a few years older than me. He had short blonde hair he had trimmed into a buzz cut, and a long spear holstered to his back.

"Rory Woods." He introduced himself as I walked in. "Asgeir Swortssen, eh? Glad to be workin' with yah, brother. Heard lot 'bout yah. Yer father was a good man."

His accent was quite thick but Matthew soon cleared it up.

"Rory is a good friend of ours from the Irish branch in Dublin. He's helping us out because his Mentor owes me a favor."

"So who are we killing today?" I asked, sitting down. Rory sat down across from me and took a long drink of his pint.

"You're both not killing anyone today. Or rather, that won't be necessary." Matthew explained. He unfolded a piece of parchment on the table and smoothed it out on the table. "Today it's breaking, entering, and stealing."

"Been waitin' for somethin' like this." Rory said, excitedly rubbing his hands together.

Matthew ran his finger down what appeared to be a list on the paper before stopping at an item on it and pointing at it. He slid the list over to me, keeping his finger on the spot on the list.

The list looked to be a kind of ledger with various descriptions of items that sounded like they had magic around them. But I knew exactly what Matthew was meaning when I saw the writing he was pointing at: "Grapefruit-sized sphere, made with unknown metal-like materials."

"This list is talking about an Apple!" I said.

"Aye." Rory replied. "Never seen the thing before, but there's no mistaking it considering the person that has all these items."

"What do you mean?"

"This list was taken from an office in a castle where the items are kept, but not in the same room as the place that they are kept. If we can find the room that they're kept in, we can find the Apple among them."

"So you're talking about Rory and me breaking into this castle so that we can get our hands on the Piece? What about the Templars? My money would assume that this place is under their control."

"Not at all, mate." Rory replied. "I've been to this land many times before, and the Templars have close to no presence there. If we can make it past the Witch that's guardin' all of the items, then it'll be an easy in and out job."

"So where are we heading?" I asked in return.

Rory chuckled. "Oh, mate. You'll love this." Then he started singing that song, bringing back my memories of that movie and realizing just what kind of Witch we were up against.

"We're off to see the Wizard…"

* * *

Rory took the front as we cut through the forest, slicing through the foliage with his machete. We had gone through the portal to Oz less than an hour ago, and were now looking for the road we all knew of.

"So The Wicked Witch has taken over the castle now?"

"Yep. In this world, _she_ exposed the Wizard for his illusions and turned him into a flyin' monkey. Dunno if that means she'll be just as evil as we know of considerin' we haven't seen her facin' off 'gainst a girl named Dorothy and chasin' after some ruby slippers on 'er feet."

It was at this point in my life as an Assassin that despite my ranking of Master Assassin, I was still learning what the Creed meant. Rory was a few years older than me, but now we would be around the same age, so I could almost see the same wisdom in his eyes that a true Assassin had. I could have asked him any questions. What did the Creed mean to him? Did he become an Assassin because of his father like me, or by himself much like the ones I helped recruit. Any question was mine. But I chose what I now know was the worst one possible.

"Shay Cormac?"

Rory stopped in front of me, and swung around, staring me right in the eye. "Careful, brother." He trilled. "I'm enjoyin' workin' with yah, and Matthew speaks highly of yah. But we never speak of the bastard. Not in Dublin"

I held my hands up. "Sorry. I didn't realize he was worse with you than me. I was raised on his journals to know what kind of man he was."

"Ah, it's alright lad." Rory turned back around and kept cutting through. "Truth be told, everythin' we have on Shay is nothin' new. All of the knowledge we have of Shay lies in his journals. You're wonderin' about the pages."

"Yes."

The elusive missing pages of his journals. All the books on Shay that I had read all had one thing in common: the last pages in them were torn out. Father had said that the Templars ripped them all out, so all we really knew about Shay ended at when he killed Charles Dorian.

"Whatever happened to Shay afterwards has never been confirmed. He became the only Templar of that time to disappear into history's shadows and never reappear as a notable figure. The theories on what happened are all different. Some say he returned to the Colonies only to be killed by Connor. Others say he retired to Dublin, and even more are convinced that he kept servin' under Haytham Kenway. That's the only rumor we're convinced is true considerin' Kenway wasn't murdered by his son for another five years."

What lied in those pages were like a shard of glass lodged in my head. Boring a hole through my mind, teasing me of what I was missing from Shay's life. Any clue I found gave me some relief, and I hadn't heard of these rumors before. I would take what I could get.

The foliage before us started to thin out, and soon enough, Rory swung his machete through the branches to have them fall onto the polished golden bricks in the ground. We had found the road, and now we had our clear path. The green lights of the city were just over the horizon.

* * *

It was a longer journey than either one of us expected when we finally neared the Emerald City. When we got a better look at it, I realized that we needed a game plan. The walls were over a hundred feet high, and guards were stationed on the tops of them. Making things more difficult than they already were was the moat that circled the castle. The only way I saw us being able to go was the bridge on this side of the castle we were facing. But that was heavily guarded with barely anyone being able to get across. More than half of the people trying to get in were given a response with the guards drawing their weapons on them.

"Oh, brother." Rory said when I inquired about the plan on how to get in. "It's easy. See there?"

He pointed towards the bridge, then under it. There were poles sticking out of the moat that I realized we could easily use to get across. From there the hard part would start of trying to find a gap in the spikes atop the walls that we could use to get above, and then into the castle.

"Follow me lead, brother." Rory said. When the guard keeping watch near that part of the moat turned his head, Rory took off, jumping onto the pole and then tiptoeing with light speed across each and every one until he was at the base of the wall. He then started scaling it with a pair of small pickaxes as soon as he was able to see the opening we were looking for. It took me a little longer than him, but I eventually found my way across and tossed my hook before starting to pull myself up. It's now that I realize how useful the Rope Blades would have been to me then just as they are to me now.

Rory helped me up onto the wall, and we started for the open window he spotted.

"So what's next?"

"Find the throne room, or at the very least where the Wizard kept his trinkets, find the Apple, then get the hell out of here. Again, just follow my lead."

The window that we climbed into led us to an office in the higher towers. We found nothing useful in the drawers or desks. Most of them were cleaned out, and the few books that we did find didn't mention the Apple. We decided to try the throne room next.

"Best we keep to the light fixtures just to be safe." Rory said before we headed out.

"Excuse me?"

"Your father never taught you, lad? You'd be amazed at the weight that light fixtures can support. Guards never really look up when they're indoors, so stickin' to the light fixtures is our best move."

"Good advice." I replied.

Rory kept the lead ahead of me, taking off down the hallway. I followed close behind as we neared the throne room. I could feel it from the whispers in my head telling me how close we were, but I also felt the unease that would be hanging over me like a shroud for more than half my life.

Rory stopped at the corner of the hallway as it turned sharply to the right. He peered past the corner, and then gave me the signal to keep moving with him. However, just as I rounded the corner I slammed right into someone else.

"Hey!" The guard cried when he realized who I was. "What're you-*haugh*!"

Rory seemed to fall right from the ceiling as he grabbed the guard from behind. Remembering in that moment what he told me about the light fixtures caused me to retain any surprise about how he appeared out of nowhere. What surprised me instead, was that even though he had every opportunity to kill the guard, he only choked him out.

"I told you to stick to the light fixtures if there were any guards." He said. "I expect you to be more careful."

I only looked down at the unconscious guard. Rory held up his hand, easily reading what I was thinking of doing.

"Nay, lad. Some people aren't worth killin'. C'mon, let's get what we came for."

After finding a trunk in a room off to the side of the hallway to hide the guard in, and placing the guard in it, Rory took the lead again and we started down the hallway. Sad to say that Rory's strategy didn't do us much help afterwards. That would be the last guard we would run into before the throne room.

* * *

When we got inside, we didn't spare a second and got straight to work. Rory and I took opposite sides of the room behind the curtain and started looking. I found items strew about the table that only confused me. Every item made me more curious than the last, and convinced me that some of them needed to be taken for the Assassins. But Rory wouldn't have it.

"If the Witch finds out we've been rootin' around in her stuff, she'll fry us both." He trilled in his accent. "We only need the Apple. If she sees anythin' else missin', we're doomed."

"She's coming." I heard.

I looked up. "She already knows we're here." I exclaimed. "We need to hide!"

Rory looked at me uncertainly. "You got the Sight, brother?" He asked. He then nodded, figuring it out on his own. "Let's hurry."

Rory grabbed one of the curtains and hid behind it in the corner of the room. I started towards the other curtain, but then realized that it would be too easy for the Witch to find the other one of us if she found the first one hiding there. So I took it a step further and started climbing the rope connected to the curtain.

"Hurry." I heard the whispers. "She's coming."

I wasn't high up enough, so I started climbing even harder and faster, but now I was too high to get down. But I then reached over with my free hand and grabbed the curtain before swinging over into the corner. I could barely see the rest of the throne room around, but Rory was in my view completely. I just hoped that he wasn't so easy to see for the Witch.

"She's here."

The doors slammed open and a figure dressed all in black strode up towards the room.

"It's useless to hide here, thieves." I heard her say. "I already know you're here. However, I demand you tell me why."

I made it my every effort to try and keep as still as I could, but back then I was still a younger Assassin trying to learn as best I could. I almost think I purposely let go of the rope now, judging by what I was thinking in the next five minutes. I thought that there could have been hope for that green-eyed monster.

The next thing I knew I was on the ground, on my back. The Witch stood above me, green faced and furious, looking down on me with a shine in her eyes that almost seemed to remind me of a butcher's knife. I smiled nervously, trying to think of something other than the massive amount of pain shooting through my foot.

"I've already had one theft in here. I think I'll kill you right now just to make sure there won't be a third." She grabbed me by the neck and tossed me towards the center of the room.

I don't know what delusional thoughts ran into my head at that moment, but for some reason I could see something that wasn't there with Zelena: hope.

"Please!" I said, holding up a hand. "We don't mean trouble! We just need something out of your vault!"

The Witch conjured up a fireball and held it up. "If you want something from there, then I know I need it for my work."

Rory must have thought I was using this opportunity to distract The Witch, because he resumed searching the drawers for the Apple. So I continued talking with her.

"What work is that?" I asked her curiously. "You might be surprised. Some of us might have answers you seek."

"No one can help me do what I intend to do, boy. Destroy my sister and take what is rightfully mine!"

I stood up. "I know a thing or two about claiming our birthrights." I said, remembering Elsa and Anna. "I'm the firstborn in my family. But my mother and her husband left me in the woods to die. I found my purpose among my brothers."

She looked at me suspiciously. "What are you playing at? How do you know my past?"

I glanced over at Rory discreetly as I kept talking. He was still looking.

"I don't." I replied. "I told you my past. So that's something we might share. We had a chance to be given what was ours by rights, but they were stolen from us. A sibling, I'm assuming?"

She sneered. "Regina! The Queen where she comes from! She doesn't deserve the blessings she's been handed."

I smirked. "Then there's another thing we have in common: an enemy. Wallowing in self-pity trying to take down people like Regina's not going to get you anywhere, love. But we always welcome people with your passion to fight alongside us. Why don't you let us get what we came for, and then let's talk about joining up with us?"

Rory suddenly opened another drawer and pulled out the Appl e. He held it up, triumphantly. But then the Witch turned around and saw Rory. She held up her hand and caught him by the throat in her grip, levitating him in the air.

"THIEVES!" She cried. "Thieves are what you are! Nothing more! I won't join a sad gang of petty criminals just so I can have a chance to take down Regina and have a family. I realized that family is overrated when the last people to approach me abandoned me! When I destroy her, I will do it my way and on my own!"

She whistled loudly, and a dark shape swooped down from the raised ceiling; a large monkey with wings.

"Suppertime, beautiful one." She said. She waved her hand and the monkey dive-bombed Rory. He landed on his shoulder and raised his head, looking to take a large bite out of my brother.

I suddenly grabbed my flintlock and shot it at the Witch. She held her side in shock as the bullet hit her, then I rushed over and grabbed the Apple from Rory. I didn't really know how to use it exactly, but I seemed to do it right when the golden room suddenly flashed even brighter than it already had. I heard voices with this as well.

"Reaper…"

"Kenway…"

"The Long Night approaches…"

The Witch sneered at me as she pulled the shot out of her side. "It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me, thief!"

She started for me. I looked at her defiantly and held up the Apple.

"Back off!" I ordered her.

But it wasn't working. I wasn't doing something right. The Witch grabbed the Apple in my hands, but we both got a surprise instead.

I saw a man with a scaly face and rotten teeth, instructing the girl who stood before me. But the vision showed her without a green face. Then I saw her name as well: Zelena.

I saw Zelena working hard cleaning and cooking for a man who looked to be her father, but was treating her like a servant.

"Remember, Zelena." He said as she was shaving him. "Whatever we're feeling on the inside, we must always put on our best face."

And what this girl planned to do. Going back in time to change her past and steal Regina's future away,

The visions ended and Zelena stumbled away from me. She looked horrified, but shook that off and only sneered instead,

"That was your father?" I asked. "I saw your memories! The Apple showed me!"

"He was a drunken old fool who didn't care for me!" She snapped back. She grinned at the winged monkey, who flapped back towards her, landed at her feet, and turned towards me, snapping and snarling. "He makes a better pet, don't you think?" She said, stroking his head.

I was disgusted. "I was wrong. People like you don't deserve to join proud warriors like us." I said. "You're too busy stewing in the soup of envy that is your pathetic life. Quite frankly I'd wish you luck trying to go back in time if you weren't so selfish!"

"Oh, like your so perfect, _Asgeir_!" She shot back. "Your sisters? Elsa and Anna? Tell me that you've thought that they deserve what privileges they have and you don't? That'd be the biggest lie I'd ever hear!"

"It's not my place to rule like that!" I replied. "I already have a responsibility to the realms. Protecting them from scum like Regina and the other Templars. I wouldn't trade this life of fighting for something that I believe in for living in the lap of luxury and watching the smallfolk below me barely have enough to wish for coins to rub together. My place is here, fighting injustice. Not as Prince Asgeir of Arendelle."

"But you are a coward, Asgeir. I saw everything. Some things that I won't allow them to come true for how they tried to haunt me, and some that only amuse me." Zelena laughed. "You value those little girls for whatever godsforsaken reason that I won't even try to understand, but you'll only hide in the shadows and never try to approach them. You're afraid of what they'll think of you if you showed them who you are, and with good reason. Because you know they'd hate you!"

"Shut up!"

Rory had yelled out and charged for Zelena with his spear outwards. He slashed at her with speed and fury I had never seen before in any Assassin. Blood was running down his hood from the monkey who had bitten him. Zelena only deflected every hit he gave her with little effort, laughing and sneering more and more.

"Go, Asgeir!" He cried out as he kept fighting out against her. "I'll cover you, lad! Take this ya feckin' green faced bitch!"

"No use fighting, thief! Soon the only reason you'll fight is to serve my best interests."

I only stood by in silence. We had what we came for, but I saw how badly wounded Rory was. He only kept fighting as hard as he humanly can and beyond. And no matter how hopeless it seemed to me, he only kept slashing at Zelena. With little options left I made the first of many impossible decisions I would make: I turned and ran with the Apple still in my hands. I couldn't look back as I heard Rory's screams turn into monkey like shrieks.

* * *

The Apple had shown me something else when I saw through Zelena's head. A door in the forest, who hid inside, and the rhyme that went with it.

"_Through the door. Step inside. If pure of heart, she will not hide._"

At my young age I always firmly believed that all Assassins had pure hearts. We fought bravely to give hope and freedom to people who deserved something better than what the Templar bastards forced them to conform to. However what I was thinking of doing wasn't at all pure. It was the first step I was taking towards the half-dark heart I would have one day.

The door was right before me after I had gone through the portal with one of the beans I had. I envisioned the door and it now stood before me.

I walked towards it, half-expecting to find myself in another place or some other room. Instead I walked right through and out the other side. I was confused, but then I realized that this was all part of the test. Glinda was judging me and saying that in her eyes, my heart wasn't pure enough to live up to her impossible standards.

"Let's see if you can stop me when I have this."

I pulled the Apple out of my satchel and held it up. The sparks flashed from the Apple as I heard the energies from it release. I concentrated and focused all my thoughts into making the door open for me. This Apple was capable of making others do what I wished, so I hoped that it would work for this.

"Let me in now!" I commanded.

I stopped, the Apple going dark in my hand. Now I walked through, and when I came out the door, I was in the middle of a snowy forest. After spending most of my winters in Arendelle's forests, this wasn't a bad place to now be.

"Oi!" I called out. "Glinda the 'Good'! Get out here! I got a thing or two to say!"

"As do I."

I looked up. She had shiny blonde hair tied up in a bun and was dressed in all shimmering white. She would look beautiful if I didn't hate her now.

"I've heard much of you, Asgeir Swortssen." She said. "People are hearing of your deeds all over the realms. They've even given you a name to accompany them."

"Save it." I snapped. "I saw the truth. I was given a job by my Mentors to retrieve this." I held up the Apple. "But I had to get it from the sister who you abandoned. And she cost me a brother. It's your fault he's dead."

Glinda didn't flinch or glare at me from my accusations. "Rory is not dead, Asgeir. Zelena turned him into one of her pets. Until someone defeats her, Rory will remain her slave."

"Then she has given the worst fate that can ever befall an Assassin. How could you let this evil loose on Oz?"

"I didn't want to. Zelena made her choice. She chose to only see threats to what she had and was too greedy and envious to see the good life offered to her."

I scoffed. "And letting that little girl replace her like that sure helped out a lot, didn't it? As soon as Dorothy landed you pushed Zelena away!"

"I'm not going to stand here and take these insults from a boy like you. If you have something you wish to do to me, go ahead and be done with it."

The Apple sparked lightly in my hand. I was more than just furious right now. I was the most conflicted I had ever felt. I had just seen my brother face a fate almost worse than death, and now I was standing before someone who hadn't done anything and was actually considering killing them.

"I could kill you right now with this thing." I said. "I don't know how it can do it, but I could do it. But it's not what you deserve. I'll only walk away if I'm sure you know that your actions cost a good man his freedom. That what has happened today is your fault and your name as the Good Witch has been tarnished. That is something that I'll make sure people know."

I thought I saw a slight tear come from her eye as she said. "Yes."

I looked at her for a moment, then nodded and turned.

"Your name is one that the Templars now speak with fear striking their hearts. You should know that despite the darkness that's infecting your heart, you're giving some people hope. They now call you the White Reaper for the hood you wear, and the fate you bring to those that oppose you."

I smirked without turning back to her. "I like that name. It works."

* * *

I stared back at the Apple in my hands. I really couldn't tell how much this thing was worth. All I knew was that our war against the Templars was driven by these artifacts, and we had just bought another one with the transaction being Rory's life. It wasn't fair. That Witch, Zelena didn't even pay a second thought to the Apple, and she still thought it to be worth her while to take Rory for it. Dead or enslaved, it made no difference to me. All that mattered was that I now had another name to my currently small list of people I hated for what they had done to me. Some I would kill, but there were two I wouldn't for the sake of my family. My only real blood left.

I heard footsteps down the corridor. Remembering Rory's strategy, I climbed up into the rafters just as the source of the steps was rounding the corner.

A little girl in a green dress. She had strawberry blonde hair tied up in twin braids, and freckles across her nose. I watched from the shadows as she laughed. She stopped at a door a little ways down the hall from where I now stood. She knocked on it rhythmically.

"Elsa?" She called. Then she sang to herself. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

There was silence for a second before I heard a muffled "Go away, Anna!"

Anna looked crushed as she sadly sang, "Okay, bye."

I shifted slightly, suddenly slipping. I saved my footing, but it didn't stop the squeaking noise I made.

Anna looked up from her feet, and around the hall. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Please don't look up. Please don't look up." I whispered. "Please, please!"

Anna looked behind her, then in front of her again before walking off and heading off to look for the source of the noise.

I shook my head with shame. Because of a lie deadlier than Elsa's own secret, neither she nor Anna could know I existed. The rage of knowing that Zelena was right, that I was a coward hiding from both of them for the shame I felt of my life compared to theirs, how they can live their lives without having to kill anyone to protect their own lives, and I inflict pain and suffering on so many souls. All of it burned me up. That name that people called me, The White Reaper. It's all I was at that point. And now it's all I am. They're dead because of me, and now all I see is blood. Blood and Mirrors.

"I would build a snowman with you, Anna." I whispered with pain.


	20. Chapter 20: Bleeding Through

Chapter 20: Bleeding Through

This morning's wake up call was different. Mostly I felt an enormous chill hit me like a bat, but this time I felt a good kick in the ribs as I woke up. I got up from the sidewalk I was passed out on, and brushed myself off.

"Wake up, brother." Shay said, smirking at me. "Zelena waits for no Assassin. So let's once again spend this day pointlessly tryin' to stop her again."

I ignored him and headed back towards Cormac's.

"You know ignorin' me is only going to hurt you more, bastard. I'm that imaginary friend that you can't unimagine. You only listen and I'll give you the answers that you seek."

When the pub was in view, Shay spoke up again. As if I didn't hear him enough already.

"I really like what you're brothers did with the pub, by the way. Did you know I really did end up owning one like this in Boston? Regina clearly appreciated me if she was to bring the place out here and give me such high honors like this."

This was what had resulted after the shards of the Shattered Sight had reached my subconscious following years of exposure to the curse. The Spell of Shattered Sight reflects on our fears as much as our misery. What made me more angry and afraid than anything aside from Ingrid was how far I had gone down the trail of darkness ever since I had escaped the Dark Curse. I always thought it was the same path Shay had taken as well, and my fears of how much I was becoming like him manifested into a ghost of him. He didn't do much aside from taunt me at first, but he had shown me things as well. Things the Assassins didn't know. Things I wish I _didn't_ know. He had shown me what was in those missing pages in his books.

"There you are." Jason said when I got inside. "We just got called out to the Merry Men's camp. Zelena stole Regina's heart!"

* * *

Regina was already leaving the campgrounds when we arrived. Robin was over by Roland's tent playing with the boy as Friar Tuck brought us over to a larger tent in the middle of the camp.

"Needless to say we should have done a better job protecting the camp." He said to us. "Which is why we thought it best to give you this."

On the table in the center of the tent was a map of the forests around Storybrooke. The green area in the map was clearly the Merry Men's camp. Tuck picked up a piece of folded paper and handed it to Jason. He read it aloud, partially to himself.

"3 sentry guns, 2 dozen assault rifles… You guys need more guns?"

"Normally we'd stick to what we know, but we should have taken advantage of the resources we had close to us to protect the heart. We should have asked you earlier for them. We could have stopped the Dark One with them."

"Guns against Rumplestitlskin? He'd turn the sentry guns on you and let them loose." I said.

"Sorry, Friar. Asgeir's right. You saw what he did here. More hardware's only going to risk more collateral damage."

"Well, at least give us more men. We need to have a better chance of protecting the heart again if we ever get it back."

Jason thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright. We can spare you with a dozen or so novices. I'll also send Zar over here along with a crate of assault rifles and ammunition. You learn how to use them properly under his watch, and we'll set you up to make sure that we keep the heart if we get it back."

Friar Tuck bowed slightly to us. "Bless you both!" He said. "I'll give Robin the good news when he returns."

He went off towards his tent just as Jason and I started heading for the truck.

"Givin' a crate of weapons and your youngest and least effective Master over to the Merry Men? You must really hate them to put them into such a precarious position." Shay gloated, sitting in the driver's seat of the truck as we walked over. The doors were closed but I heard him as though he was right beside me.

"What if I helped guard the heart instead?" I asked.

Jason glanced over at me. "We're not even sure that we're going to get it back, Asgeir. And even if we did, I somewhat doubt Regina's going to trust it with our hands for a second time if we do. We only have a plan with Zar helping us out. Nothing more. Right now we need to focus most of our efforts on killing Zelena."

I shook my head at myself. "You're right. I'm just trying to get my head back into this. I just barely made it past keeping my hood at the vote."

"Hey, it's alright brother. But I do have something we will need your help with right now."

* * *

When we got back to Cormac's, Jason took me down to a side room in The Bunker. There were maps strewn out on the table and a number of novices working at the computers. I saw two of them watching the live feed from a drone's camera.

"Welcome to Project Boden." Jason said, sitting down at the table. I took the seat next to him as he explained.

"We spoke briefly on George a while ago, brother. But I'm here to give you the basics of what we're up against, because it's worse than Matthew would care to notice. George is taking great advantage of the situation here in Storybrooke. He's using Zelena's activities as a distraction while he builds his army from the ground up. From all we can tell he's planning on hiring private mercenaries that work for Otso Berg once he's scraped together enough money for them."

Otso Berg was one of Abstergo's worst military commanders I had ever faced. Another man on my shit list, though probably not as high as Ingrid or Rumplestiltskin. I often think that every person on that list I don't hate at different levels. I hate them all equally.

"How the hell would George be able to finance all these troops?" I asked. "He's going to need to find a way to get these troops into the town, too."

Jason led me over to the map of Storybrooke. "Meth labs. George has been hiring the low level scum that Emma and Charming don't give a second thought over as his cooks. He must have found a gap in the barriers surrounding the town, because he's receiving payments every few weeks for what he's already had cooked and sold."

Jason showed me a few photos to prove this. Tall men in collared black and red jackets handing off stacks of cash to guys you would immmediately recognize as cooks.

I was amazed. There were at least eight labs marked on the map and the first one had been tagged over six months ago.

"How could you not have interfered?" I demanded. "If you stepped up already we might have had George already, and gotten the meth off the streets,"

"Calm, Asgeir." Jason replied with no reaction. "This is how Zar and I plan on ambushing George. He has no idea that we're still watching him, but he's been cautious ever since he had failed to turn the whole town against David and Ruby. We haven't seen him since, so he must be holed up somewhere. Now, Zar and I are convinced that there are still more labs set up in towns, but our scanners haven't been working their best for the last few weeks. Until we're sure we have every lab marked on the map, we're staying out of the way."

I sat down on the table. "And what? We strike every lab at once?"

Jason smirked. "Now you're getting it. If one lab gets attacked, there's only a matter of time before another finds out and calls George. Then he disappears for good. Something we can't allow after having this bastard alive for so long. But we have a somewhat strong force of armed troops in this town. If we hit them all at once we'd catch them by surprise, shut down the operation, and have George in less than thirty minutes."

"But then why are you showing me this, Jason?" I asked. "You're running this operation with Zar, not me."

"Matthew had said when you arrived here that he wants you to pull the trigger on George and take him from this life after Zar and I have done the grunt work. But under the circumstances I'm deciding that it's best that you start helping us with the mission right now. I hate George just as much, and Troy and Rabbit had more reason to kill him than us before they died at Ingrid's hands. You need to earn your credibility back as well as your hood, Asgeir. The only way you're going to do that is by pulling your weight in more ways than attacking Zelena with a rocket launcher. Hell, even the brothers found their way of taking down the Templars with minimal deaths. They freed slaves while you and I killed the big wigs."

Their humanity and the joy they got out of being true pains in the arse for Templars was what I missed most about Troy and Rabbit. Those two worked better than any other duo I had seen. Some might even say that they were a better team than the Frye Twins. Always helping each other, barely arguing, and not afraid to crack a few jokes in the process. And what did they get for their loyalty? The world's worst brain freeze.

"So how can I help?"

"We have scanners posted all over the town. I'll send their locations to you. All I ask is that if one scanner isn't working and it's not too much trouble to fix it, you do so and collect the reports they give."

"How do they work?"

"George previously found a way to hack into our comms network. We updated the firewalls since then, but we can't risk him intercepting the messages again. So Zar invented a new way of how we do it. They're like pigeon coops, almost. The sensors don't send any outside signal to us, but rather print off hard copies of the information that we should know for each lab. We check them regularly so that none of George's men can get the info."

I was impressed. "I get it. With no outwards signals, there's no way for George to intercept anything. He thinks we're only focused on stopping and killing Zelena."

"That's why we're operating at such a high level of discretion. You haven't seen George recently, Asgeir. But neither have I. The last I saw of him was six months before the First Curse was broken. George had tried turning the whole town on Ruby, but when David and the rest of us stood beside her and aimed our guns at George, he slunk back into the shadows. We have no idea where he's hiding or how he plans on taking us on. All Zar and I know is that Project Boden cannot fail. George will die when we finish here, and I decided that it's time to bring you on board."

"Alright. I'll do what I can. What do you need of me?"

"Torren. If you will."

A novice who was tinkering with an unusual contraption carried it over from his workbench, and placed it on the table. It looked to be a large antenna pole with wires around it and a few lights.

"These are the sensors that we work with. Zar and a few of the more tech savvy novices working on the Project helped develop them. They're designed to look like TV antennas as a form of camouflage. You see this attached to an antenna and you'd easily think of it as a signal booster or whatever. George and his cronies have no idea what these are if they have even given them a second glance. What's important is this part here." Jason pointed to a box halfway down the pole. It had hinges on it and a lock.. He took a key and opened the lock along with the box.

"If there is a paper inside, take it and move on. It'll contain encrypted coordinates for a lab that the sensor picked up. The way it works is that it can pick up signatures of methylamine and the other essential chemicals that are needed for cooking. Any signatures picked up are registered and printed by the sensor and deposited into the box. The encryption is always changing, so only the novices working here can read them with the gear we have. Bring them here, they'll decrypt the information, and we add another lab to the map."

"And then?" I asked. "We need to have an idea of when exactly we need to strike. If we don't George will keep adding more labs thinking that he can do so without resistance."

"Right. Which is why Zar and I agreed we'd strike on him when we are at the best advantage. But today is not the day. We don't have the intel or the strength to attack the labs yet. But we will have the chance soon enough once we wipe out Zelena and turn towards Ingrid."

My radio suddenly went off. "Glass to Reaper. Glass, Reaper."

It was Kevan, the barkeep upstairs. "Yeah, go for Reaper."

"We have one David Nolan asking for your presence."

Whatever David needed, I suddenly felt that something was very wrong if he needed to come to Cormac's for my help instead of calling.

"We can finish the rest of this when you and Zar get back." Jason said. "Get outta here."

I nodded and headed out of the room. Up the stairs of The Bunker I went until I reached the freezer's trapdoor and headed out.

"We got a serious problem" David said when I got to the bar.

"When isn't a problem serious with our cases, Charming?" I replied. "Zelena's already gotten Regina's heart. What else could happen?"

"With Assassins, things 're always gettin' worse brother." Shay snarked. "Just watch what David says."

"There's something going on at Regina's. Belle's just discovered what Zelena intends to do, but we can't reach Mary Margaret or Regina. The house has been sealed by some kind of magic."

* * *

David and I sped down the road in his truck as he explained.

"Regina had a plan today instead of trying to get her heart back. She wanted to find out exactly what Cora had done to Zelena to make her hate Regina so much."

"How can you do that? Cora's been dead for over a year."

"Right, but Regina had a way of contacting her. We thought it didn't work after performing a séance, but it must have now, because all the entrances to the house are gone. We're thinking Cora might have reappeared."

"What, you didn't try the windows? Come on! Pick it up! We need to know what's going on in there!"

Emma and Hook were already there with Belle when we got there. I could hear screeching and whistling wind coming from the inside of the house as the others started looking for a way in.

I rolled my eyes as I clearly saw my easy way in. "I'll get them out!" I called as I aimed for the window on the second floor. Flicking my wrist, my Rope Blade shot up onto the windowsill and yanked me up into the window. Glass flew everywhere, but I ignored the quick pain I had of it slicing through my arm as my wounds healed in a few seconds. I opened the door of the room I was in and headed down the hallway with my swords drawn.

I had never faced Cora in my life before, but I believed the stories that she was worse than Regina. My father had tried several times to kill her, but was no match for her. I would have loved to have the chance to take her on once in my life, but I always knew in my heart that I would never kill her if my own father couldn't. He even told me when I was studying the family history that my own grandfather Norik was the closest anyone had ever gotten to killing her. But no one knew why he spared her life instead. My father passed on two important beliefs that contradict what Grandfather Norik did. The beliefs that I stood by, once: Sparing someone is not mercy, no matter what anyone thinks. Making their life end quickly and cleanly is the only true mercy you can give them.

The other belief was the most important to me: If you aim to bring death on someone who deserves it, you must do it yourself. Your victim deserves to look you in the eyes as they die so that you can see the fate you have given them. You owe that to them, because death can't be taken lightly. Ironic how I, the White Reaper, had once treated death with a heavy burden when my name said otherwise.

I began kicking in doors as the air got colder and I heard voices. Voices that terrified me.

"Grandson of Norik Swortssen." A cruel voice said over the noise. " I sense you judge me as though all Templars are evil, yet you only see your half of the picture. Allow me to push you a step back and you will see it all."

Shay was in the next room waiting for me. He chuckled. "Oh ho, that Cora is another legend among us Templars after me. I wonder what she'll overload into your mind that I haven't already?"

"Shut up." I replied, closing the door behind me. "You're not real."

"Now you speak to me as you should. I'm realer than you would ever believe, Asgeir. You think all those memories I showed you, Ingrid made up? You knew them all along, but you just couldn't truly face them. And whatever lies for us on the other side of that door," Shay pointed to a door at the end of the hallway, "it's more memories that you will have to witness and accept. Cora will do what I did to you, and you will have to accept what she shows you since you still deny what I showed you."

I shook my head, cursing myself. "Grandfather, what happened to this woman?" I asked, finally preparing to run head on into the hurricane. "Why did Cora grow to hate us so much, and how does Zelena transpire into all this?"

I held my breath and opened the door.

* * *

Cora showed me too much. I never knew my grandfather, but it was too much like looking into a mirror. He had a hate for certain people in the lines of royalty that I could only see myself in. Except there was always the chance that he might spare them for what they did, and he even befriended some of them. I don't know much about that, but I would burn myself in hell and impale my neck on the Devil's pitchfork thousands of times over before ever befriending Ingrid. Who's to say that she wouldn't try and kill me for not being like her? She killed Anna for the only because she looked like Gerda. Like she could help that.

When the last memories were ending, I found the doorway into the room I was looking for. Emma and the others had found their way in, and we regrouped.

"Have you found them?" Emma asked, hurriedly.

Breathing hard at what I had seen, decades passing by in a matter of minutes before my eyes, I shook my head.

"Come on!" David called. "We can't let Cora hurt Regina or Snow."

I drew my cutlasses again as we headed down the hallway into the library. As we opened the door, Regina was pushing the shape of someone into a portal in the ceiling. I had no doubt who it was.

"What the hell was that?!" Emma cried.

"Cora." Regina replied. She rushed over to check on Snow, who was passed out in a chair beside her. "Is she okay?"

David was beside his wife in an instant. "Mary Margaret? Can you hear me?"

Snow started to stir from whatever she had been taken out by. "Cora…" She whispered weakly. "Not what we thought."

It came to me. She had seen what I had just seen. Although not all of it, I hoped. "She was trying to communicate."

"She was?" Regina demanded. "What did she say?"

"Leopold…my mother…" Snow went on. "My mother…"

But it was too much. She fell back in her seat, exhausted.

"She's not making sense." Emma said. "We need to call a doctor."

"If she knows something that could help us-" Regina said.

"Regina, it's gonna have to wait." David snapped back.

"It can't wait!" She yelled. "If we want to stop Zelena, we have to know what the hell she's planning and why."

Belle piped up. "I can help with half of that."

"And I with the other." I replied. "You know what she plans on doing?"

Regina glanced at her. "What?"

Belle nodded. "She's planning on going back. Back in time."

Great Scott… She found a way.

"Are you certain?" Regina asked. "No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time.

"Zelena must have found a way. It was what she was planning to do the first time I met her."

"Clearly she thinks she can succeed." Belle said. "I mean, brains, courage, a resilient heart. Those ingredients are in every time travel spell I found."

"But why go back in time?" David asked.

I glanced at Snow. She was completely out.

"You said you knew the other half, Swortssen." Regina said. "What does Zelena plan on doing?"

I shook my head angrily. The injustice of what Norik had seen left an awful taste in my head. "She's going to kill Ava. Snow's mother."

Everyone around me looked surprised, so I continued.

"Cora had a chance to be married to Leopold, Snow's father. She was working in a tavern but he seemed to connect with her after they had met. At the time she was with child. Zelena. The father was a groundskeeper at Leopold's castle, and he threatened to expose the secret to him unless he was secured financially. Ava had eavesdropped and the brat couldn't let Cora have her prince to herself, so she exposed the truth. She showed me that there is no place for me to judge considering how she knew my own grandfather after she was forced to abandon Zelena. I understand now. I understand everything"

Emma was confused. "Wait. I thought our family were the good guys."

"Life is too messy for it to be that simple." Regina said. "No one knows it better than some of us."

Amen.

"So if it wasn't for Ava, Cora would have kept Zelena?"

"She would have been tutored by Rumplestiltskin." Belle said.

"And all if it weren't for this Princess Ava?" Hook asked.

"It's true. And from what I saw, it's a wonder Cora hadn't killed her sooner."

Emma understood. "So she goes back, kills Ava…"

I nodded. "Zelena will have never been abandoned by Cora. But that might mean erasing Regina from the picture, as well as another good half of us. It means Snow, and by default Emma and Henry from existence as well."

Everyone could only look as grim as me until Hook spoke up.

"It's a good thing no one has ever succeeded with this time travel nonsense."

David stood up, horrified. "The baby." He realized. "That's what's missing. That's why none have succeeded. Somehow, someway, our baby is the key."

And we now just obtained a new priority. The whole spell would not work without the important element before us in Snow's belly.

"Zelena went through a lot of effort to get to our unborn child. That's what she's after."

"But what will she do with it?" I asked, looking at the unconscious girl.

"It doesn't matter" he replied. "She's not gonna get it. We're going to stop her. Since our baby's not born, she's stuck. And we have what we need now. Time."

I nodded as I hit my radio. "All available troops return to The Bunker. A new priority has just been discovered on Primary Target. Prepare for briefing."

The Briefing Room was a lot larger than I expected. When the Assassins had received my message, too many returned. Some were having to listen in on their radios upstairs in the pub, while others were too busy with their postings around the town, and had to listen via the radio feed as well.

Jason and Zar stood by me while Matthew watched on. Ever since he had voted against keeping my hood, I hadn't spoken to him. He wasn't worth it anymore if he thought that of me.

"A new update has given us more information on the Primary Target's intentions and objective." I said to all Assassins present. I pointed to the large briefing screen of our picture of Zelena's face, her stupid smirking face. I was now trying hard to decide if I wanted Ingrid or her dead more.

"Zelena has secured three of the four means of unleashing her time portal. As of now we are on the defensive, people. But we now know the last thing she needs. She needs Snow White and Prince Charming's unborn baby. For whatever reason, it's the last thing that she needs to make the time spell work. But she needs it to be born first, and that means that we can now set up the defenses. Everyone that is not involved with Project Boden is required to focus as much efforts they can into protecting the child. With enough firepower we can send Zelena running, and hopefully stop her from obtaining the baby. I want ground teams and drone operators to start sweeping the town for the other three ingredients. Knowing Zelena, she will be protecting them with extreme desperation. And with her desperation, she will be more careless to other things. We have an advantage now, people. So let's send that Witch tied up with a bow to the gates of hell."

* * *

Jason, Zar and I sat around the table in the Project Boden room after I finished the briefing. While he was delivering the crate of weapons, Zar had stopped by and had picked up an encrypted set of coordinates to another one of the labs. Torren, the novice was working on deciphering it as the three of us drank our ales.

"We can spare a few more guns and novices to help protect Snow and Charming's baby." Zar said. "But it won't be much. We have too many guns and not enough people to shoot them at Zelena. We're going to need something to help us out, because if we can't spare enough men, then some of our own hands on Project Boden will have to be moved to taking down Zelena."

"No." I replied. "You and Jason want me to be a part of this mission to take down George, and we're going to need as many people as we can."

"Yeah, but who do we turn to?" Jason said. "You weren't here during the Curse, Asgeir. People around town, they don't trust us. They never will."

And when he finished, Jason had suddenly given me an idea. We were running low on recruits, which meant that we would need the help of others. And two people came to mind that had what it took to help us. When I told them, Zar and Jason agreed so long as who I was thinking of could give us any support that we needed.

* * *

"Oh, what are yah doin' now?!" Shay snapped as I sat, waiting for them in Cormac's at the bar. "You do enough damage to innocents by not dragging them into this war. But if you think asking them to help you kill George will right your wrongs? Never forget that the Brotherhood is all wrongs, and no rights. I won't ever forget how Liam killed Colonel Monroe only because he had the Manuscript with him."

"Asgeir!"

The door to the pub opened and Red and Cindy walked in as the bell above the door rang. I got up and gestured for them to sit down at a table off to the side.

"How are you girls doing?" I asked them.

"It's going alright. Taking care of the baby with Sean." Cindy said.

"All Granny and I seem to be doing is just making sure that Witch doesn't attack the diner again."

I bit my lip as I kept hearing Shay yell more insults and taunts in my ear as I brought up why I asked them here.

"Jason told me about the incident with George a year ago." I began.

Red scowled when I mentioned him. "He was attacking David through me, but even I can't let that slide. It's only a shame that none of the townsfolk have seen him since."

"That's why I asked you here. Both of you. George is still here in the town. But we have no idea where. What we do know is that he's preparing an assault on the Assassins and he's building a small army to take us down. It's not our main focus, but nevertheless, myself, Jason, and our other friend, Salazar are working on stopping him before he strikes again."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Cindy asked. "Is this some kind of confession?"

I turned to her. "You remember how we met. It wasn't long after you and Tommy had wed that Tremaine was hiring sellswords to attack you, but I stopped her before killing her. It wasn't what anyone would want, and yet you and I became friends because you knew that I was doing what had to be done."

"Tremaine would have had her sellswords do whatever it took to have me in her grasp again. You did what needed to be done." She agreed.

"I also hope that you would agree this: We do whatever it takes to protect the ones we love. Some of that morality is tested, but when the chips are down, and it's you and the one who will kill you and your family, there can't be any question."

"George won't stop his assault with the Assassins." I continued. "Everyone in Storybrooke will not be safe unless we stop him and strike first. I'll admit it. This isn't what you do, but it's what I need out of you. Can you help us? I know you have mixed feelings about the Assassins, but please help us for me. And for those you care for. I don't have anyone else to really live for with both my sisters gone. But you have family and friends that care for you."

Red pursed her lips. "Billy. He was innocent and never hurt George, but he killed him anyways. Bled him like a pig and made the whole town believe that I was the one that did it. I will help you, Asgeir. I don't want to kill him, but rather look him in the eyes and ask him why he did it before he leaves this world for the next."

Cindy agreed. "I don't know how we can help, but whatever you need from us, Asgeir, we'll do it. We both trust you. Because you are our friend."

I grinned as I saw Shay scoff. "Dumb broads. You're goin' to get them all killed, yah know."

"So where do we start?"


	21. Chapter 21: The Heartless Queen

**A/N: So this is where we get to meet Asgeir's grandfather, Norik. I think that what makes the Assassin's Creed series so great is how it talks about the heritage of the war. I often think of Asgeir and his ancestors like Connor if Haytham had stayed an Assassin and raised him to be one.**

**A couple of things to address: the thing on Shay's hallucinations. Yes, it is somewhat inspired by Arkham Knight, but I had actually written down this idea before the game released. We all know that feeling where we come out with an idea and someone comes up with it and tells people about it before we do. My way is just a different kind of way of bringing Shay into the story aside from flashbacks because he's dead at this point.**

**Also, truth be told, I sympathize with Zelena in a way like how Asgeir did. Not anymore, but I felt sorry for her when Glinda and the other witches pushed her aside to make room for Dorothy. And as you will see in this chapter, even I don't think that Cora deserved what the asshole Jonathan did to her. I personally think that she loved him, and that she would have married him for him as well as his money if he had been a prince. But he accused her of being a gold digger, which again, was not true from what I saw out of her, and what Norik saw. Every sign points to her being just that, but I can't truly see it for some reason. I hope some of you agree with me as you read this next chapter.**

**One more thing is this being a sort of disclaimer. Neither of these chapters serve much of a real connection to Asgeir's part in it, but they both can be viewed as more of separate stories that connect Assassin's Creed with the Enchanted Forest.**

Chapter 21: Past- The Heartless Queen

We never truly know our forefathers and mothers, no matter what is left behind by them. I only got to know my grandfather Norik through his journals, and even then there wasn't much I could pick up on. He was the last Mentor of Arendelle that kept the branch in a well kept home. A noble Assassin that kept the Creed close at heart, and he was a loving husband to his wife, my grandmother Varina Vinter-Swortssen. They were married when they were both young, and my father told me that they both died peacefully of old age. I may never know for sure if he was lying to me or not, because he had lied to me about a lot of other things. But what Cora had showed me? It showed me a side of my grandfather that witnessed horrible things. Injustice, above all else. Cora was right when she showed me those things. I had no right to judge, because I hadn't seen the whole picture.

**Norik POV**

I often wonder why I didn't kill my friend sooner. If I hadn't earlier, who knows how many wouldn't have suffered at her hands? I have faced a sad truth that too many shield their eyes from, yet one I never acted upon: when one harms many others, no matter who they are, they must be put down. Even if that person is someone who you once cared for.

Back then, people knew me as Norik Swortssen. Master Assassin of Arendelle. Not yet the Mentor of the branch, but I would be one day. I had heard that some of my own forefathers had been Mentors before. More than just a dedicated Assassin, I was a very driven young man, determined to build a solid foundation for my brothers and my love, Varina. She was almost all I lived for, since her father Winch was another Assassin brother of mine. He was a good friend, but after I became engaged to Varina, her happiness with me and her father didn't last. Winch was slaughtered by sellswords on the orders of King Xavier, currently the most powerful Templar Grand Master in the realm. Winch was a man who had retired as an Assassin recently, procured a noble name along with a homestead and well paid friends to help him maintain it, and Xavier saw this as a threat to his Order. Varina received the horrible news by raven when she was staying in the town of Yurness, a small Assassin settlement in the far north of Arendelle. I often consoled her, asking what I could do to help her, but it didn't do much good. She barely spoke in her time of grieving, and when she did it was while she sobbed, repeating the same words over and over.

"He never hurt him…He never hurt him."

As Assassins, most of us look towards the Creed for hope when we suffer a loss like this. But Varina never became one, for her father forbade it. So all she truly had was me and her father. After she and I became engaged, Winch pulled me aside and warned me not to let Varina take the hood. Everyone knew Wentworth as "Winch" for his choice of using ropes as his main weapons against Templars instead of his blades. Someone once said to him that he was a regular hangman, but he replied by saying that was more like a human anchor winch. It stuck.

"You must swear to me that whatever happens, Norik, Varina does not take the hood. I won't let her have the life that the rest of us had. It's too painful."

"Aye." I replied. "You have my word."

I stared at the bottom of my foam covered, empty horn of ale as I thought of this. It had been two months since Winch had been murdered by those sellswords. He was to be my father-in-law, but we both looked at each other more like brothers. While I had managed to find three of the nine cutthroats I had heard were the ones that attacked his housekeepers burned down his land and cut him in half, I knew the real culprit was Xavier and all the other Templar shites in his kingdom. What haunted me with every one of the sellswords that I found and killed, I became less sure that I would be killing Xavier for justice, and more for my personal vendetta against him. I only hoped that my love would not be stained with blood when I would see her again. That was what I was absolutely sure with at the time.

It was late into the night at the tavern. I had been visiting it regularly for the last year, so I had known plenty of the people that worked there. I knew the tavern girl that was working here right now quite well, as I had met her many times before already: Cora.

She was an optimistic younger woman. Always striving to be someone more than she already was. It impressed me as someone who spent most of his time killing nobles that she was one I could truly understand. While I sat at my table to the far side, she came over to refill my horn.

"Glad to see you again, Norik." She said, smiling.

"To you as well, Cora. But what are you still doing here? You've worked past the end of your shift."

"I'm getting by, and I don't mind. You need not worry."

I smirked as she got back to work and I looked down at the letters I had been receiving through my contacts for the past few months. All the letters showed were the speculations of what Xavier was doing and the allies he was reaching out to. I wasn't sure how I would get to him, but I could feel that I would soon enough. I would make sure he knew whom I was and that I knew Winch, and then give him what awaited every Templar.

I glimpsed up for a moment as I saw Cora suddenly fall as she was pushing away another drunken patron attempting a move on her. She fell on the lap of a man I heard was called Jonathan. He was nicely dressed considering where he was, but then again, people often say that Assassins have overly formal attire with their hoods as well.

Cora sat down with him and I saw them talk for a bit before going back to the letters. One was an intercepted scouting report sent from the Southern Isles meant for Xavier. It was quite cryptic with it's words, so I couldn't tell if it was a report on a possible invasion or truce with King Viktor, the current king of the Southern Isles. These scouts loved their code words, and currently the encryption didn't mean anything.

When I looked up at Cora next, I couldn't help but smile as Jonathan slipped a ring made of a straw onto her finger. It wasn't real, but I could see that it meant everything to her.

He got down on his knee as he proposed, and I became so distracted I felt I had to put down the letter and watch as she accepted.

"Oh, you make me so happy!" Jonathan said as he kissed her hand. "Ah, but these next two weeks are going to be torture. Meet me at the crossroads so we don't waste any time."

Cora nodded. "I'll be there." She replied. "When do you have to leave?"

"Very early tomorrow, I'm afraid." Jonathan replied, somewhat sadly.

Cora was dismayed. "The tavern closes soon." She realized.

Jonathan glanced down at his hands, disappointed that he wouldn't have much more time to spend with his fiancé. "Well, then." He said.

Cora then smiled with an idea. "But seeing as how we are essentially…married…" She began. "Perhaps I could keep you company in your room?"

I smirked as I saw the newly weds got up. Before they got to their room, I approached.

"I couldn't help but overhear." I said. "Please accept my congrats."

Cora smiled. "You're a good friend, Norik. Have a good night."

"You as well." I replied as the two lovebirds headed upstairs for their room. As he climbed the stairs, I noticed that the one thing that stood out with Jonathan's fine clothes was his belt. Scratched and beaten as though one of his ancestors had worn it. I figured that he must have been wearing it for sentimental value. After all, why would a prince of his privilege wear such a worn out belt than that?

Every night that I spent in the tavern for two whole weeks, Cora talked constantly about how she was excited to see Jonathan again. I find it strange but mature of her that not once did she ever mention that she was also looking forward to moving up in the world and being named Princess Cora when he returned. She explained to me that Jonathan was actually the Prince of the kingdom and that he had wanted her to know him as a man before a Prince and love him for him, not his money. Every night she waited eagerly as she worked, and every night I watched on, as we both grew closer as friends. A few days before Jonathan was to return, I realized that Cora could help me get closer to Xavier by telling me where he was.

However, I knew that what I was doing had to be kept secret. Every one of my forefathers in the lineage of Assassins did their absolute hardest to stay as true to the Creed as possible. I wasn't about to break the chain just yet. As much as Cora and I were becoming friends, she couldn't be trusted with such sensitive information. But what she told me one day made me think that I didn't have to.

"When I ascend to royalty, Norik. I won't forget you. Should you ever need anything or any help from me, I will do everything in my power to help you. I want to be as good a princess as I can, if people are to accept me as a noblewoman."

I smirked as I raised my mug of ale. "I'll drink to that."

He never came. Cora went out to the crossroads and spent the whole day waiting for him in the rain. When she had returned the innkeeper was furious that she hadn't given him any notice on what she was planning to do. When he was finished chewing her out, she sat down with me.

"I just don't understand it." She said. "He said two weeks. You don't think that he had gotten lost do you? Or, gods forbid-"

I slapped Cora on the hand, lightly. "It won't do you any good to think like that. You just need to keep a positive outlook on this. I'll tell you what, I can do some searching and I bet I can find this Jonathan. Give me some time and I should be able to track him down and find out what's keeping him."

Cora smiled. "Thank you, Norik. It means the world to me that you are there for me."

The way she smiled at me somewhat alarmed me, but I only needed to remind myself that she was already married to know that whatever she was showing, she did not actually feel it.

My son, Daniel became a much better tracker than I when I was that age. Every day for two months I searched for Jonathan alongside the sellswords and Xavier. I knew that the king was in another kingdom, but it was well known in the criminal underworld of Assassins that he liked to travel to visit and discuss treaties with all his neighboring monarchs. He had the goal of uniting the five kingdoms surrounding his own with him so he could crush the Assassins with ease.

I was able to track down two more of the remaining sellswords and kill them. Before they died, they explained that it was Xavier's personal order to kill Winch, and not one of his generals making the decision. It only made me madder seeing what kind of man Xavier was and what Winch was compared to him. The man who wishes death on another must reap their soul himself. Winch was a good man, and he deserved to look that bastard in the eyes before he died.

The truth of the Assassins is that there is no real hiding from them. The Templars can try to protect themselves with their stonewalls and their loyal guards, and the pond scum of criminals can run as much as they like. Eventually, we find them all and do what must be done.

I had seen him a few days ago. When I went back into the tavern to tell Cora, I sat down in silence at my usual table towards the back of the place. Cora had seen me as I went in, and came with a horn of ale.

"Well?" She asked hopefully. "Did you find him?"

I looked back at her, trying hard to think of how I could say it to her without breaking her spirit. "Cora…"

Her smile started to fall. "What is it, Norik? Did you find Jonathan?"

I nodded slowly. "You should see him for yourself. You will find him in the gardens tomorrow afternoon. I'm… I'm so sorry."

And I really meant it. What kind of man would do something like this to her? This one small action that the bastard treated as nothing dire meant thousands of people's deaths and an Evil Queen to go with it.

A gardener. All this time he was a gardener. Now I understood why he wore such a worn-out belt, as he could not even afford one. I still cannot fathom why he deceived her even after all these years. Why would he hurt Cora, who had done nothing to provoke his actions? I could possibly understand had Cora been a noble lady that treated him like the scum that I now knew he was, but not a Miller's Daughter.

I watched from far away as Cora begged Jonathan to still marry her because he had left her with a child in her, and she could not support it. But he only laughed and walked away as she screamed for help that I didn't see coming. As Jonathan walked in my direction, I jumped out of the bushes. I wasn't wearing my Assassin hood, but I didn't think I had a reason to until now. I would have killed Jonathan right there where he stood if I could.

"How dare you!" I snapped as he smirked at me. "What had Cora done to you to deserve such a deception?! A hoodwink!"

"Nothing in particular. But she forced her virtue into my hands like a harlot after I 'revealed' that I was a prince. Harlots are harlots, and she is worth nothing at all. She should consider herself lucky I left that child in her."

Jonathan kept walking as I turned, the fury boiling my head. I had no weapon on me, but I wanted nothing more than to lash out and snap his neck right there. Maybe if I had acted sooner, I could have saved all those people.

When Cora and I met again, she was even happier. At first I was confused, but then she explained what had happened.

"The real prince, Leopold found me. He took pity on me and we seem to have connected. He broke off his engagement to the Princess Ava that he was supposed to marry so that he could take me in himself."

I was surprised. "His father just let him do that?"

"Not entirely. But Leopold pointed out to his father that there really is no point in being a future king if he can't make his own choices. Haven't you taught me something like that since we've been friends, Norik?"

I smirked. "Aye. You understand what my ideology of anarchy means. Not that chaos rules and everyone dies, but that everyone be free to follow their own paths. If you ever get the chance, I would very much like to meet this Leopold. He and I might have a thing or two to discuss."

Establishing an alliance in the Enchanted Forest. Heaven forbid, ever since our jurisdiction was pushed back into Arendelle when my grandfather, Asgeir the Second dared to eliminate the Templars from this realm. He was killed in action, but the alliance between the King, Stephan and the Assassins remained intact, as it had been for many generations.

There was no point in bringing my hopes up. When I came to the castle to meet with Cora, dressed nicely in her gown and furs, the scoundrel Jonathan approached as I was walking up towards the gazebo. I ducked under the edge of the gazebo, and then climbed up quietly onto the top.

"Well, lo and behold." He exclaimed as he grabbed Cora's hand. "It turned into gold after all."

Cora was not taking this shit from him anymore anymore. "How dare you!" She sneered. "You must have the brain the size of a pixie to show your face in this kingdom."

As she spoke I drew my blade out. I wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily this time.

"Well, I had to see for myself if the commoner," He spat the word with loathing. "Who said yes to Prince Leopold was the same one who said it to me…several times…in one night. It was quite impressive."

I growled. That meant nothing to him, so it shouldn't mean anything to her either.

"In two days," Cora replied, with confident anger in her voice. "I will be a princess, and you will bow down and count yourself lucky to pull the weeds at my feet."

I smirked, very impressed. Jonathan only scoffed with false cowardice. "Been practicing in front of the mirror, I see. You're as much of a fraud as I ever was."

Cora angrily scowled at him. "My love for Prince Leopold is true." Then she smiled at herself. "As if his for me."

Jonathan slowly sat down beside her. "But does he know just how much of you there is to love?" He asked. "Or were you hoping to keep _our_ baby a secret?"

Cora flinched angrily, realizing what he was doing. "What is it you want?" She sneered. "Gold? Jewels?"

"Mm. Yes" He replied, laughing. "Whatever you can get. Enough for me to live happily for the rest of my days, just like you wanted from me."

The difference there was that Cora had a baby to support. Him? He wouldn't live long enough to spend a single shilling. I'd make sure of that.

"Bring it here tomorrow night, and your secret shall remain just that."

Cora glared angrily at him, clearly thinking her decision over before making it. "It will be done." She hissed. "Now leave! Before someone sees you."

But the damage had been done. As Jonathan got up and walked away to resume his yard work, I heard a small voice beside the gazebo.

A young girl in a ballgown and tiara was hiding behind the wall of the gazebo. I knew instantly who she was and what she was doing, but was more concerned that she didn't spot me above the gazebo than tattling on Cora. I didn't get the chance to try and stop her as both she and Cora left at the same time in opposite directions.

_My dearest Varina._

_Not a moment goes by that I don't mourn for your father and you. I have been in The Enchanted Forest for over a year now, searching for the rest of the sellswords and Xavier, but I know I cannot return to Yurness until I ensure it's future is protected from him. Who is to say that he doesn't know about the Assassin settlement so far north?_

_But the rot of corruption doesn't just touch Assassins. It's touched a friend that I have made here on my journey. Cora, a Miller's Daughter. She's been through too much pain anyone of her class should have, and has just been through something even worse. She was set to marry the Prince Leopold this week and rise up in the world, but another Princess that wanted to marry him unearthed a secret she was keeping, and now she is back to being a Miller's Daughter, disgraced as a victim of circumstance. This world is cruel, and I now see that there can't be mercy for the Templars and scoundrels that live in this world. Not now. Maybe one day when a new Mentor that will come after my time restores the Assassins to their former glory, maybe then we can finally be the symbol of hope that we haven't been able to be for so long._

_I will return soon enough, and not a day will go by that I won't think of you and how I miss you dearly until then._

_Forever yours, Norik_

There is no room for scoundrels in this wretched Earth. At least, that's firmly what I believe. Templars are a filth that can't be allowed, but bastards like Jonathan are worth less than nothing.

It had been four months since Cora had been exposed for her pregnancy and the engagement broken off. I kept waiting for Jonathan to also be charged for his part to play, but it never came. I figured soon enough that it was my duty to be judge jury and… well, whom he should have faced a long time ago.

I was shaking with fury as I saw him walk about the castle grounds with his tools in his barrow. I was far away from him, watching him through my spyglass in the trees. A group of noble ladies and princesses walked past him as he wheeled his barrow to a freshly dug flowerbed. I spotted Princess Ava among them, laughing and gossiping with them. I had something different in mind for her than what I planned to do to the Gardener. He was attending a flowerbed and placing new roses in them when he really should have been digging a hole. A large hole, six feet deep with a stone on the end.

As he attended the bed, I noticed Jonathan get that feeling. The feelings that many cursed souls get around this time: The feeling of being watched. He looked over his shoulder many times as he worked on the bed, and when he finished, he got up, turned around and looked all around the gardens. He breathed heavily several times, as if he were about to call out for me, but every time, he decided against it. There would be no way anyone would be watching him, he was thinking. The ladies at court all spoke of his former lover with blood and venom in their voices. It would mean nothing to them if they knew that the gardener that no one really cared for was the one who fucked her and left the baby in her belly. But Jonathan should have realized that this "harlot" had friends that didn't care about getting their hands dirty. Or bloody.

As the day dragged on, and the sun started to set, Jonathan packed up his tools into the shed, took his pack, and set off for home, the horizon now a deep red from the sun just now settling underneath the trees.

It had rained the other night, and the forests were still wet from it. Jonathan shivered as he trudged on, at one point having to walk right through a muddy puddle that slowed him down somewhat. I could see how uncomfortable he was with only his peasant clothing on, and I still was ripe with fury at how it wasn't enough. He could have been suffering from whatever sick parasites the worst small folk suffered from and cancer, and it still wouldn't have been enough. Nothing would be except what someone with my name could give him.

Varina was the only one I told about what I did to Jonathan when I returned to Yurness. She asked me then if I truly thought that this man deserved it. I told her that while Cora had her flaws and ambitions, she was no whore. I could see that she truly did love Jonathan, and not because of his "wealth". She didn't deserve what that bastard did to her. Nor what the bitch, Ava did either. Not then, I mean. Cora would eventually do the deeds and take the vows that would make her deserve everything that she got, and place her on the last place I wanted her: The List.

When Jonathan arrived at his pathetic, rundown, shitstained hovel of a home, he looked over his shoulder and waited a few minutes before going inside. He knew that I was following him, and he still didn't know where I was, who I was, what I aimed to do to him, or why.

The thing that some people fail to really think is that smallfolk are sometimes safer than lords and kings. Sure, they don't have locks or bars or other ways of keeping people out of their homes, but when was the last time you ever saw something worth looking at a second time in a peasant's house? Kings and queens, they have the gold. They have the jewels. And even with their high walls and bolted doors, everyone wants what they have. It gives off a kind of funny irony on who is really the safer one in this situation. Because it's mostly our possessions that attract the rats into stealing from us.

I wasn't after any money or jewels however. Because I knew this craven had nothing more than a few coins to rub together since Cora was discovered and he never got his gold. His lack of a supper was evident by that when I saw him simply slump into a splintered easy chair, and desperately try and get warm by the pit of embers in his hearth instead of starting his supper.

It was too easy. His window was hanging off its frame all crooked like, leaving me an easy space. I reached into my satchel and pulled out what would do the job: a sleep grenade. It was barely even a challenging task of getting to the area under the windowsill and slipping it through the broken window into the hut. I heard Jonathan yell out before his cries cut off, and I heard the slam of his unconscious body hit the floor.

When the gas was cleared out, I kicked the door down and grabbed him by the collar. I forced him into the chair, then pulled Winch's rope out and tied it tightly around him. As I did so, I heard a noise coming from the corner of the room.

I looked down in the damp darkness as the moon was rising to see a large rat gnawing on a piece of wood. Despite his size, I could just tell how starving it was by how it was chewing on that thing.

I spotted a bucket of water nearby, and saw that Jonathan still had his belt on. I managed to pull it off his pants and set up what I needed. The horrible Assassin would be taking his justice from the law abiding gardener soon enough.

"Ughhh. What's going on?"

I smirked as I held my back faced at Jonathan. "Good." I said. "You're awake. Well past time we talked."

Jonathan was now fully awake. As I turned towards him, hiding my face in the darkness of the room and under my hood, he screamed loudly.

I socked him in the face. "Be quiet." I ordered. "No one is around for a whole league, Jonathan."

"What do you want?!" He cried out. "I could feel you watch me all day and follow me home! Who sent you?! I've done nothing wrong."

"OY!" I snarled, snapping my finger in his ears. "Are those ears on your head just for decoration, or do you have any fucking idea how to use them?! I said. Be. Quiet!"

Jonathan was showing a side of him I never saw when he was in front of Cora. He was only a coward when there was a potential for death around him. All the rest he could stand up to.

"Now." I began. "Do you know who I am?"

Jonathan strained against Winch's ropes as he tried looking under my hood. But then he noticed the symbol on my hood.

"No!" He gasped. "You're the W-"

I smacked him and grabbed his mouth shut. "I asked you if you knew who I was. I didn't tell you to say the name."

I then reached over to another chair in the hut and pulled it over. I sat down in it, facing him with the chair facing away from him. I crossed my arms over the backrest.

"We are going to discuss things, scoundrel. First you will confess to me your crimes. And then I will punish you for them. How much pain you go through all depends on how long it takes you to confess."

Jonathan looked somewhat confused, but through his tears, he tried to think. Then his eyes lit up. He knew exactly what it was that he had done wrong.

"When I was fifteen I stole a sack of-"

**PAFF!** "Try again." I said, rubbing my fist after I had punched him.

Jonathan sniffed, now starting to look afraid again. He tried regaining his composure from that hit. "I don't know what-"

**PAFF!** "You know exactly what I mean! Confess to me your crimes and then I will kill you. Refuse, and I will still kill you. Although much worse than you would think."

"I have done nothing that would upset any nobles." He protested. "I have always been a good worker for the King! Why would he send you after me?!"

"I'm sorry, but what made you think that I was sent by that miserable bastard?" I sneered.

"Wha-?"

"Is it my reputation? The nobles and royals whispering my title in fear for killing 'their kind'? People thinking that I won't kill anyone without a payment from a high monarch? I don't do it for money. I do it because it pleases me to know that the wretched nobles that walk this Earth suffer at the hands of people like me. And you, you quivering little twat. You are just as bad as them because of what you did to my friend."

I knelt down in front of him, and then lowered my hood. "Look me in the eyes, and then tell me if you remember me."

Jonathan stared, trying to process and put my face to his memories. Then he recovered his math skills and put two and two together.

"You were with Cora that night in the tavern. You know that harlot."

I head butted him as hard as I could. "Keep talking and this will end worse for you than it already was going to, ten minutes ago."

"The girl practically forced her virtue into my hands. I fucked her good and hard that night because she wanted me to." He sneered. "After all, _we were married! You hear me?! I FUCKED HER! _"

I punched him with a flurry of fists so hard that several of his teeth fell out. When he barely cried and didn't do what I wanted him to, I gave up and walked over to the device. "You like rats, Jonathan?" I said, picking it up. "You might feel right at home living with them. Disgusting creatures that spend their time rooting around in filth and taking things that aren't theirs."

I held up the device. At first glance it looked exactly what it normally would be: a bucket with the rat inside, and a belt. I walked over and placed the bucket directly on Jonathan's chest, the rim fitting perfectly on his torso. Then I strapped the belt on tightly to secure the bucket in place.

"What are you doing?!" He cried.

"I want to hear you confess your crimes. Admit that what you did ruined Cora's life. That little bitch, Princess Ava heard your little rendezvous with Cora, and she gossiped it to the whole court. Now Cora's back to being just a Miller's Daughter."

"Good riddance! She was a harlot! And she still will be for the rest of her life!"

Jonathan disgusted me. I heard the rat pattering around in the bucket on his chest, and decided to up the ante. He wasn't going to live, so what could it hurt to show him a modern convenience. I grabbed my book of matches and lit one. Then, as Jonathan gazed in wonder at the little stick that had lit up like that, I grabbed a thick log by the fire, tied some cloth to it, and lit it up. I held it up to the bucket.

"Confess, scoundrel."

"Confess what?! That I regret what I did? I almost had secured a future for myself if Cora hadn't gotten herself caught!"

I smirked as the rat started to move around in the bucket. It was feeling the heat.

"You want to rethink you're words? I think your little friend is feeling a little hot right now."

Jonathan looked defiantly at me, but it didn't last. Every minute that I held the torch up to the bucket, the rat was starting to claw and try to get away from the heat. It started to find it's way through Jonathan's shirt judging by what he said.

"Alright now. Heh. You can stop." He said, nervously. "It's all funny, but this rat-ow! It bit me! Stop! I need to-augh! Stop this! It's hurting me! It's-augh! AUGH! AAAAH! YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH! ENOUGH, I SAY! I ORDER YOU TO STOP! AAAAAAAHHHH! OKAY! I CONFESS!"

I raised the torch. "Go on."

"I took her virtue!" He said. "I deceived her for nothing more than to amuse me and hurt her! I had no right!"

I nodded. "There. Not so hard." I got up.

"I did as you asked! Aren't you going to let me go, now?"

I looked down on him. "I never said anything of the sort. See, you hurt someone that had done nothing to provoke such an act, and that is a crime that I don't let out of my grasp. You're not a Templar, but you're someone just as bad. I can't let you live. More importantly, I don't _want_ to let you live."

I had what I needed in my satchel. A metal torch holder that came in two separate pieces. After I put it together I placed it under the bucket, then went over to the sofa to finally get some sleep.

I don't know if it's true what they say about how a tree falling in a forest with no one around makes no sound. But I can say for certain that no one else heard, knew, nor cared that night that this pathetic excuse for a man was screaming his last words.

"PLEASE! GODS HAVE MERCY! MERCY ON ME! I MEANT NO HARM! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH…"

The local constables found Jonathan's body a few days later, bloody, bruised and naked, hanging from a nearby windmill's tower. Neither the drunken Miller nor his daughter could explain how the body ended up on their tower, or why. What none of the guards could understand as well was the massive hole where the bastard's sternum was, nor the message that they found written on his body in blood.

All over his face and chest was scrawled the word "Scoundrel". Over and over again it said on his face, and no one could tell why. Not many of the townsfolk knew of him, but a few mentioned that the Miller's daughter had known him and spent the night with him. She was brought in for questioning, but they somewhat doubted that she did it, especially since she had been on bed rest for weeks with her child on the way and her feeling quite ill.

Even the nobles in the castle paid no mind to Jonathan's unfortunate death. They had plenty other gardeners; so one death meant nothing to them.

They ruled out Jonathan's death as an accident eventually, but they couldn't figure out how. The crows had been picking him apart for days by the time his body was found, but even that didn't add up. In short, they gave up.

It really was a shame that he had died. But sometimes, these accidents just happen.

_Dear Cora._

_There are things that I know you deserve to know about what happened to Jonathan. I want to keep it as simple as I can because you really shouldn't know about this._

_It was indeed I who killed Jonathan. It goes against what I stand for, but I did it because you at least deserve some retribution for everything that has happened. You having to abandon your firstborn daughter, and that little brat Ava stealing the good life you could have had. Jonathan was responsible for this just as much as she was, and he deserved it._

_At this point in the letter you're thinking that my next action would be to kill Ava as well. Every aching bone in my body wants me to, but that is something I cannot. I have something in mind that might help the people, but not help you. It wouldn't be worth it to kill her just to satisfy the need for your vengeance, but it would be well worth it to do more to help the collective of the kingdom through justice. The girl needs to see that her actions have dire consequences and she must face them. I will show her them without slashing her neck on the scythe of the Reaper._

_However, I want to at least offer some more retribution for you as well. You've been through enough pain, and the injustice here must be answered with justice. Justice that I hope you can carry out if you let me teach you._

_You see, I come from a guild of people. A brotherhood of sorts. A family. One that spends their efforts trying to end the oppression of tyrants that rule with a steel fist. Cora, everything you think you know about history is wrong. There has been a secret war raging on since the beginning of written history between my side, the freedom fighting Assassins, and the side of evil bastards like King Xavier, the Templars. They seek to control all of humanity and make it their "perfect" world. I know that there can't be any peace with control freaks in a position of power, and that is why I will admit this: I see potential with you. You're my friend and I don't want to lose you. Some of us spend our whole lives trying to take down the corruption that lives in the rich and powerful that it's not until the pit of vengeance has swallowed us whole when we realize that it was fruitless all along. To make us out to be anarchist vigilantes who oppose the Templars for their crimes is a mistake. Vigilantes can be destroyed, broken, and killed. But we do something much more than fight. There are some among us that rise from the pit of vengeance and inspire the weak and the helpless to stand for themselves and choose their own paths. They become symbols, they become legends, but most importantly, they become true Assassins. I can see the fire of vengeance smear your vision and think that taking Ava and all the rest of them will bring peace. It won't if you do it alone. Find me, and if you are truly ready to play your part in the war, then we can bring justice for all._

_Sincerely, Norik._

Almost six months passed after that. I never heard from Cora after she had her child, a baby girl. I spent the rest of my efforts tracking down the few remaining sellswords responsible for Winch's death. Soon enough they all were gone. And most of them begged for mercy. To that I replied with the same response.

"I _am_ giving you mercy." I said each time. "The same mercy you showed my brother."

About a month after I killed the last one, I received a message from the Mentor, Gared. He begged me to return as soon as I could as Varina was now becoming convinced that she would lose me any day now. But he did say that there was a chance that Xavier would be visiting the nearby town, and it might be my last chance.

"At least remember the Creed, Norik." He said at the end of the message. "Do as you are asked and kill the Templar king, Xavier. Don't do as you please and kill the murderer of Winch, Xavier."

I arrived at the castle town under the burlap hood of a beggar. As I walked around, begging for money from people at random, I saw him. Potbellied, with black hair and a smug face. Who should be with him but the bratty Princess, Ava? I assumed correctly that the man beside Xavier must have been his son, Henry. I angrily stalked among the crowd, following their movement.

I knew better than to kill Xavier right there in the castle town square, but it was hard. This man had Winch killed for no real reason, and I was trying hard not to be consumed by the dying thirst for revenge for him. A man who believed as the worst Templars did: that because of theirs crowns and their jewels and their gold that this made them better than everyone else. And everyone below him was weaker than him.

"Oh, you, stupid, foolish girl!"

I suddenly noticed that Ava had tripped a woman carrying a heavy sack of flour. As she turned towards her on the ground, I realized that it was Cora. She looked up at Ava, with flames in her eyes.

"What happened here?" Xavier asked the Princess as she smirked down at Cora.

"Oh, the peasant fell." She replied, trying not to laugh. "As they do."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Cora snapped.

Xavier looked down on her. "Not you." He sneered. "Ava? Are you alright Ava?"

"Well, she ruined my slippers." She replied.

Oh no! Gods forbid she had faced enough pain this week! After all the suffering she had been put through! Only yesterday she found a pimple on her face and a broken nail! Whatever would she do!

Henry however, was kinder. "I don't think the girl meant any harm." He said.

Xavier looked back at Cora. "You shall receive no money for the flour, and you will apologize to Ava."

Cora was appalled. "Apologize? The wench tripped _me!_"

"Curb your tongue." He trilled. "This is Princess Ava from the Northern Kingdom. Our honored guest. She's a very important woman."

Bugger that. I heard of her Kingdom. Their "Northern Kingdom" was nothing compared to the real Northern beauty of Arendelle. As an Assassin from there I showed pride in living in Yurness. It was a true gem of a settlement in Arendelle's far North. But what makes a kingdom like Arendelle better was how we knew what winters really were; they were always harsh but beautiful.

"She's a girl." Cora spat back.

"And who are you, Miller's Daughter?" He replied.

A future Assassin with every reason to kill you right then and there, I hoped.

"What's your name?"

"Cora."

Xavier smirked, and crossed his arms. "Then kneel, Cora."

Cora glared angrily at all three of them, but hesitantly did as she was told, her ragged clothes among the flour.

"Now apologize. Apologize or this will be the last bit of flour we'll take from you. There are other millers out there."

Cora gritted her teeth. "I beg your _pardon_, Princess Ava."

The child grinned. It was clear to me, and to Cora that she remembered her from a year ago. Soon enough I'd invert that smile and make her beg for mercy.

"Stay down until we have passed." Xavier ordered. "You are where you belong."

He and his son turned, Ava following around. She looked back at Cora, smiling malevolently, clearly proud of herself.

When they were gone, I approached Cora with my hood still up.

"You alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I-" Cora looked up. "Norik?!" She whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping an eye on you. And looking for that bastard." I pointed where Xavier had left her. I took Cora's hand and pulled her up. "I just love it when those I'm chasing come right to me in a bow."

Cora looked uneasily at me. "Norik. I received your message. What did you do to Jonathan?"

"I did to him what I will do to Xavier, and get justice for my fiancé. Jonathan was a rat, and could not continue to torment others like he did to you. You can't tell me you miss him?"

Cora beckoned for me to walk with her as she went back to her barrow to take back to the mill.

"The world is a better place without him. But it would be even more if the wench were killed as well. Why won't you do it?"

"Because in my eyes, and the eyes of my Mentors, Ava is ultimately innocent. She must not die unless if Xavier corrupts her the way he has corrupted many others."

"He is a cruel man just as much as the girl, Norik. You must not hesitate the next chance you get."

"I won't hesitate on my behalf for Xavier. The girl is another story." I replied. "But he's very well protected. I fear I'm not as skilled an Assassin to take him when he's still protected by his guards."

Cora was visibly upset as I admitted this. It hurt me to see her so consumed with the thought of vengeance; I knew something as she looked at me. An idea that suddenly came to mind as I remembered the offer I had given her in the letter.

"It isn't fair, Norik." Cora growled. "We do all the work and it's people like them that are at the top. How can this be?"

"It's how the Templars work. But you mustn't despair, Cora. Keep hope alive."

She looked at me doubtfully, but I smiled.

"Have you ever heard of Arendelle?" I asked. Cora shook her head. "It's a kingdom far away from here. About a month's journey away on the other side of the kingdom and across the sea, and it's where I am from. It's a place where the Assassins are safe and protected by the King, who is a much kinder man than that shite. If you want a second chance at life, and really make a difference better than a princess ever could, then you stick close to me for the next few weeks. When I return to Arendelle, you're very welcome to come and join me. The town I live in brings new definition to 'community'. We take care of our own, just as all our forefathers did. Assassins, nobles, and smallfolk alike. You don't even need to take your drunken father with you. Clean slate."

Cora agreed. "I cannot take it here anymore, Norik. If you take me with you, I'll work hard to earn my place in this town."

I smiled at her. "You won't need to, but I know my brothers will welcome you with open arms. After I'm done here. Just you wait. Until then…" I reached into my satchel and pulled out a small bag of gold coins and placed it into her hands. "At least take this. You need to eat this week."

Gared had contacts in the Enchanted Forest that could help me, but the most that he was able to do to help me get closer to Xavier was have them forge me an invitation to the masquerade ball that celebrated Ava's visit. A chance to scope out the castle and find its weaknesses in its defenses.

I walked in with my mask on. I had been put down as a guest on behalf of King Olaf, the Lord Jacob Kenway. Of course, no one paid me any notice, as all eyes were on the beautiful princess.

I weaved in and out of the crowd, noting as much as I could for what I could see of the castle in the courtyard. I was right in the middle of trying to determine the best spot on the walls to start climbing when Xavier stopped the music with his order.

"My loyal subjects! We have a very special personage with us." He called, grabbing the arm of one of the ladies in a red dress. I cursed as I realized that it was Cora.

"I told you to wait!" I whispered to myself.

Xavier pulled Cora up onto the stairs of the ballroom.

"This woman tells me that she can spin straw into gold!" He called out.

Obviously, everyone laughed at this while I flinched in shock. This power that Cora had just bluffed that she could do was straight out of a fairy tale that I had read as a younger boy. I also noticed that she must have gotten the idea from the deception that Jonathan had pulled on her so long ago. I knew this world was set in the fairy tale world. But I always doubted that I would witness one in person.

"And she is going to demonstrate it for us!" Xavier continued, laughing along. He pointed to a guard. "Fetch a spinning wheel!"

Cora tried to do something to stop this, so she tried hiding one lie with another. "It takes…time to gather my thoughts." She said.

"Oh!" Xavier sniffed. "I tell you what, my dear. Spend the night here, locked in a tower full of straw. Spin it into gold tomorrow, and _you_ may marry the Prince."

I shook my head at myself as the crowd murmured. Princes seemed to be landing on her lap, as this was the second one that she would have a chance to marry within the year. I wondered if Ava would ruin this one, too?

"Fail, and you die." Xavier finished.

"Thank _you_, Captain Obvious." I whispered to myself.

The next morning, the guards found Cora in the tower cell with all the straw replaced by gold. Xavier was furious when she gathered on the steps that morning in front of the whole court, and handed him a long strand of the gold.

"How can you prove that you did it?!" He hissed.

Cora only smiled, maintaining her ground. "Bring me the wheel and more straw, and I will do it again."

Xavier glared at her, then dropped the strands of gold and snapped for his guards to do as she asked. They brought her a whole bale of straw, and a much nicer wheel than the one that she had been given the night before.

Cora sat down, putting the straw into the spindle. She started pulling it through the wheel, and the nobles and I watched in amazement as she pulled strands of gold right out of the wheel. When she was done, she took them and handed them to Xavier.

"Here." She snarked. "Here's your gold."

Xavier was still in disbelief as he eyed the strand. "Is this-? Did you really do it?!"

I smirked as Cora beamed. "You saw it with your own eyes." She replied.

"But you're just a Miller's Daughter." He said.

"I am so much more."

I couldn't help but notice Ava eye Cora like a snake, green with envy at how she had stolen away the attention she had been given last night.

"You've…earned him." Xavier said, shifting nervously. He had been played right into a trap and made a fool in front of his subjects. Justice, but only a taste of what would come.

On cue, Prince Henry kneeled down at Cora's feet, and took her hand. "Cora. If you will do me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage."

Cora nodded, smiling. "Yes."

As Henry kissed her hand, I smiled. I started to clap slowly on my own, but soon everyone else followed suit, and the whole crowd cheered for Cora. I almost thought she spotted me in the crowd as she smirked, her dream finally realized. Cora might not be able to go with me to Arendelle unless she asked me to, but with her in the right position, she would be able to get me close enough to Xavier to send him straight to the red gates.

A few days later, Cora was taking a walk in the village. She had two guards with her, but when she spotted me a ways down the street she told them off.

"Well done, Cora." I said. "Managed to shove the bastard's foot into his mouth."

"It wasn't without some help from you, Norik." She said. "You made me realize that I needed to show them that I'm not a woman to be taken lightly."

"Does that mean you might still consider going to Arendelle with me? You'd have a real family instead of every single one of those royal pricks teaching you how to curtsy and dance and all the other useless skills."

"Henry is a handsome man, but dumber than a mule. I don't want to marry him. I don't want any of this if I'm only fifth in line to be Queen.

I want to see Xavier kneel before me and beg for mercy before I watch him die."

How she was speaking threw me off. I wanted to kill Xavier and make him pay for what he had done as well, but the manner in which Cora was making it sound; it was as if something had happened last night with her. Like she had some life-changing encounter.

"Cora." I began. "How did you come to learn how to spin the straw into gold?" I asked.

"Some strange man appeared in my cell last night. He had a warty face and called himself-"

I knew it. "Rumplestiltskin?!" I gasped.

Cora looked surprised. "Why, yes. That's his name."

Not exactly a Templar, but possibly even more dangerous, Rumplestiltskin was a monster that I had hoped I would never encounter in my life at any point. I grabbed Cora by the shoulders and firmly grasped them.

"Cora… Rumplestiltskin is the Devil in the form of a man. Many Assassins over the last centuries are now dead or worse because they underestimated him. You can't trust him or think that he will befriend you. He's only out to better himself and kill anyone that might oppose him. He's worse than Xavier."

Cora shook her head, somewhat annoyed. "Well, I think I've had enough preaching. You tell me all these stories about Templars and Assassins, Norik. But Rumplestiltskin told me the truth. I want to make them all consider themselves lucky that they are kneeling before me and not rotting in the ground. I hoped that you would understand, but he warned me about you and it turns out he was right. He told me everything about you. That you wouldn't kill Ava, and so you won't kill Xavier. You'd show him the mercy that he doesn't deserve."

"What?!" I snapped. "The fucker had my brother killed! Why would I ever spare him?"

"Because you wasted your time and effort on Jonathan when you should have killed Ava before she exposed my secret! If you spared her, then what's stopping you from sparing another that hurt someone you care for?"

I looked at Cora in shock. I realized that I should have taken her out of that tower the first chance I got as I asked this. "Do you love the Imp?"

Cora turned without an answer, but as she walked away she glanced back at me.

"I expect you to bow to me, now that I will be Princess."

I only stood back in shock at who I saw walking away from me. I reminded myself that she was still the person she once was, but she was starting down a dark path. One I hoped didn't end with a red cross.

I spent my nights in the castle town sleeping in the woods. Xavier might have not known I was there, but I still couldn't risk him finding out about me. The tree I slept in had a history of being one of the oldest oaks of the realm.

One night a few weeks later, when I was sleeping I heard a voice.

"Norik!"

As I woke, I jumped down. Cora was dressed like a real Princess with a tiara on her head, standing tall and proud. I still wore my torn up burlap hood, but was now wise enough to keep a sword hidden in it.

"Your Highness." I said, half mockingly, half respectfully. I bowed, twirling my hand in her direction. "This couldn't wait until morning?"

"I just had to make sure you hadn't left for Arendelle just yet."

A spark of hope hit me when she said this. "Well, Xavier is still alive, last time I checked. So no. What's the matter? The Imp talked you out of killing him?"

"No." Cora replied, unsmiling. "I chose not to kill him. There are things I learned from him, and things I learned from you. You taught me that life is cruel and I need to use any opportunity I can to destroy those that oppose me. Those that humiliate me."

"Exactly. Xavier is the enemy here, Cora. You can help me with that problem. If you help me infiltrate his castle and kill him, I can take you to Arendelle. Yurness will be a safe place for you. You can finally have a fresh start better than this pathetic life of a lazy noblewoman."

"But then in the last few weeks, Xavier showed me the real truth." Cora said, as though I hadn't said anything. "I don't just want to make the nobles bow to me and kiss my feet. I want them _all_ to do it. Every person that looks at me, I want them all to strain their necks and look up at me as someone more than them all."

My mouth hung open at what she was saying. It was as if I was seeing a demon in her form. This was not the Cora that I had befriended. Something was now different about her. I suddenly felt compelled to check something that I felt. I focused hard and felt the Sight bring my eyes towards her heart. Assassins with the Sight can see others hearts and how much darkness affects them. But I was horrified at what I actually saw: nothing. Cora's chest was completely empty.

"Cora." I said, realizing what else had happened. "Please. I can help you. I am not the enemy here. Rumplestiltskin and Xavier are. They're the ones that hurt you, not me!"

She sneered. "Says the man who spared the child even after everything that she had done to me. Call yourself my friend. Hah! You and the Assassins are weak, Norik. You treat souls that don't deserve it with love and compassion, killing the rest that question and oppose you. Xavier showed me the truth when he brought me into his fold. Love is weakness, and the Father of Understanding showed me that."

Cora pulled her hand out of her glove, a silver ring on her middle finger bearing the Red Cross of the Templars.

"Harlot!" I snarled. "You will regret this!"

I drew my sword and swung it at Cora. Astonishingly, she held her hand up in the air and I felt something pulling me back before throwing me to the ground.

"I only regret that I didn't take my own heart out earlier and have you killed earlier. Luckily I have a title and power now to have someone else do it for me. Guards!"

I picked up my sword as four guards appeared from behind the trees. Two of them grabbed me from behind while the others got their own weapons out.

"He just confessed his intentions to kill King Xavier. Deal with him and bring me his head when you are through." Cora said. "I will be back at the castle."

She smiled at me. The last time I ever saw any trace of my friend left. "Love is weakness, my dear Norik. Remember that when you die, knowing that your fiancé will have to learn that the hard way when she's mourning for you as well as her father. What did Xavier say to me? Oh yes. He said that Winch begged for mercy before the sellswords took his life. Begged like a dog."

She walked off into the darkness.

When she was gone, I easily fended off the four guards and cut them all down. I hid their bodies and flew off into the darkness, now more lost than ever.

Cora was now dead to me. Tearing out her own heart to further herself up the ladder of power. What kind of devil would do such a thing? Something told me as well that she left the guards to kill me because she knew that they couldn't do it. I was too skilled. She chose to leave me alive so that one day, when I was higher up as a Master, and she a Master Templar, we would face each other again someday. I kept running and running as fast as I could as dawn approached. When the sun was peeking over the mountains, and the mist of the morning surrounded me, I stopped and sat down, unsure of how I could get to Xavier now. Cora no doubt would have told Xavier about me, and he rewarded her by inviting her into the Templars. And whatever Rumplestiltskin said to her and taught her in that night in the tower, she now knew very powerful magic. She would now be one of Xavier's new followers protecting him; gods knew why after all he had done to her. Now I was back to square one with no way of getting in. No one on the inside to help me.

But then, I remembered that I had a chance to ally myself with someone on the inside instead. She had been long gone from the kingdom by now, but I now knew I had someone else who could get me to Xavier. And since he had given me yet another reason to slice him in half, I was all the more determined to do it: because he corrupted someone I cared for.

The young princess lay sleeping before me, alone. Her husband was on a diplomatic mission to the Eastern Valleys. She would look stunningly pretty if I didn't know of the rotten, envious beast that hid behind her face. I looked down at the sword on my belt. I could slit her throat while she slept, but that was the coward's way. I could wake her and kill her then, but that was the savage's way. She deserved to die in the eyes of some, and in the eyes of a part of me. But she was ultimately innocent. Nothing she had done made her deserve death. And she was my last chance to get to Xavier.

But it was because of her actions that Cora became the bitter person that she now was. Now being mentored by the man that ordered the death of Winch, and she turning her back on me. If it hadn't been for the jealousy of this girl, Cora might have found the right path one day.

I raised my hood a little higher over my head to hide it better, and then leapt over and covered Ava's mouth with my blade to her throat.

She woke up instantly, her blue eyes filled with terror as she screamed through my hand.

"Be quiet." I whispered. "You and I have business to discuss, Your Highness. I will pull my mouth away, but if you scream you lose your throat. And by default, your life."

Ava looked pleadingly at me, but nodded.

I pulled my hand away and retracted my blade as I turned my face away from her so she couldn't see me.

"What do you want with me?"

"Justice." I replied. "I don't think you realize what chaos your actions will have brought upon this realm."

"I'm the Princess." She replied. "I can do what I want. What happens as a result of that is not my concern."

I held my fist up and my blade shot out of it's bracer, the shadow of it casting down on her face. "You seem to be abusing the use of your tongue considering you're still speaking like that. Would you like me to liberate you of that burden?"

She somewhat whimpered, so I took that as her answer.

"The girl you tripped a few months back. Cora. Even you remember that she was the same one with child that tried to take your future husband for herself. You're no better than her by causing chaos at every turn whenever you please. Since she's made her way up as Princess, Cora's now joined the inner circle of tyrants known as the Templars. People will burn for it."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"It has _everything_ to do with you. Did you ever once pause to consider your actions at all? It's a simple case of the Butterfly Effect. You just had to have the idiot Prince Leopold, and now people will burn because you infuriated the wrong girl and she had herself be taught by the Devil himself."

"If you are here to lecture me, please make it brief. I need to sleep."

I tossed a knife right into the headboard beside her. "I have a better idea. I'm going to kill King Xavier, and you will help me do it. You will give me information I seek. Names, contacts, places, his tactics, his guard patrols, so I can find a way to get to him, and then I will bring death upon him as he ordered to do so on my brother at arms."

Ava breathed fast from the terror of the knife in the headboard. "How do you propose I do that?"

"I will leave you with what you need to contact me and you will obtain the information I seek."

"Should I refuse?" She said with what little defiance she could muster towards me.

I turned to face her directly, my face hidden underneath the shadow of my hood. "You know exactly what will happen to you should you fail me. I really think that you will do what is right, because I'd hate to have to kill someone I really don't feel like killing."

I opened the balcony doors of her room, rushed for the edge and jumped off, the sound of a night eagle screeching loudly. I already knew that Ava was pulling out the knife from her headboard, the info she needed from me tied to the handle.

I had given Ava a list of what I needed, the means of contacting me, and another good threat just to ensure she didn't get any bright ideas and tattle on her idiot prince. Luckily she came through and sent a raven to me.

"You ordered me to arrange a meeting with me if I obtained the means to infiltrate Xavier's castle. Meet me at the highest tower of the castle at two in the night."

I stood with my back towards Ava as she explained. Getting inside her castle was once again, no real challenge.

"I hold the plans to his castle through a scouting report. Xavier has been a friend with my family for some time now so it wasn't hard to find them. I also was able to obtain guard shifts and postings and names of his most trusted guards."

Something told me that one of the names on this list was a high-ranking Templar. Another target for another time.

"Do they suspect that I am coming for them?" I asked in a deep voice.

"Y-yes." Ava shivered. "Princess Cora told him everything. I thought you were a friend of hers since I saw you in the town that day when I tripped her. Hiding under that hood."

I turned and glared at her from under my hood. "She _was _my friend." I replied. "And you speak of tripping her like it was some kind of accomplishment in her life. Like she should be grateful she breathed the same air you did."

"I remembered who she was." Ava replied, now not as afraid as I had her a week ago. "She was the same wench that lied to my darling Leopold and said that she wasn't with another man's child. Who was the man? Another drunken Miller?"

"No." I replied. "Your old gardener. The one I had a rat eat a hole through."

Ava flinched. "The one that went missing. So you kill anyone that you please these days? You plan on killing me when this is over, right?"

I looked back at her, but as I saw the look in her eyes, something seemed to change. Here I was, threatening an innocent to get to King Xavier, who I was solely targeting for his orders to have Winch killed a year and a half ago. Slowly, I lowered my hood and lowered my voice.

"No." I said. "I won't kill you. As much bad that you've done to Cora, she has now done something much worse to me. She's joined the Templars and learned freakish magic from the Imp, Rumplestiltskin. Now that she's in a position of power and working with the individuals that aim for control over all mankind, I can't spare her. She was my friend, but she made her choice, and wanted to rip her own heart out so that she could further herself."

Ava looked uncertainly at me. "She's learned the secrets of magic? Does that mean that she will kill me if you don't act soon enough?"

I shook my head. "You haven't given her a reason to spare you ever since you met her. It's not my responsibility to protect only you from her, but it is to protect everyone from her. If you wish to suppress her wrath on you, I would first give her a reason to like you instead of trying to ruin her life at every turn."

Ava stared at me. "I loved him." She said. "Leopold. I really did love him, and I thought that she didn't. I still love him, now that we are married. It's not that I didn't mean any harm to her. I just thought that it really could make any difference to me. She was a Miller's Daughter only months ago."

"And now she's a Heartless Queen." I replied. "I would expect her to be coming after you soon enough if you don't try to correct your mistake."

Ava nodded as she handed me the papers. "You seem familiar to me. Are you the one that the people speak of in fears whispers?"

That name. I never liked it in all my life. It only suggested that everyone I faced would die. However, I only chuckled at that to myself.

"Yes, I suppose I am that monster. Underwhelmed?" I said, flipping through the papers.

"You surely live up to the name halfway with the white hood. But no. You seem more like a man just trying to look out for whom he cares for. Saving those he cares for."

I looked up from the papers. "I do have people I care for. People that Xavier hurt, or worse. If you knew him better than when he is at his royal gatherings, you'd see a man who paid nine sellswords fortunes for killing my fiancé's father, and runs hundreds of slave mines in the eastern borders. You look at him, Your Highness, but you don't see him for what he really is."

"How can this world be that cruel?"

"It's easy for you to say. You think that there isn't a dark side of this world? You don't know what it's like to be desperate. You don't know what it's like to be cold, starving, alone, or helpless. Try living among the smallfolk for most of your life and then tell me that you understand. I might believe you then."

I started for the balcony, pulling up my hood. "I will return to you when the deed is done, Princess. I think you and I have some things to discuss soon enough."

The plans were useful in every shape and form. The guards were told many times each day I went on scouting that they were to keep an eye out for "the Assassin", mentioning me by my nickname as well. It was no use for them, as it was not my first time infiltrating a Templar's castle. They can mount their spikes on the walls and their guards on the turrets. But there was no stopping an Assassin as skilled in climbing as I was.

The bastard sat at his desk close to the center of a large balconied room. The room itself was a massive dome with vaulted ceilings and four balconied pathways leading into the center, each looking down on the room a good hundred feet below. The room below was also showcased by a large stained glass window on the floor in the direct center of the room bearing the Templar Cross. There were two guards to each entrance of the room, but not to the transoms above. Edging past the rafters was easy, as well as jumping downwards right on his desk.

Xavier got up with a jump, but he did not show fear as he looked at me. The guards noticed me and yelled out as they ran over, but Xavier held his hand up.

"Cora told me everything about you, Assassin. You come from Arendelle, seeking my death."

I glared at him from under my hood as I jumped down in front of him. "You show no fear to me, Your Majesty. Why not?" I said, extending my blade on my left wrist.

"You think you're the first Assassin who's tried to kill me? That older one, Wentworth tried to kill me many times before. I'm just glad I got to him before he could."

I narrowed my eyes as I lowered my hood. "You didn't kill him. You did what all Templars do. You sat back as cutthroats with your gold did the deed for you. You owed it to Winch to look him in the eyes and kill him yourself. Every soul who wishes death on another does."

"Hah! You call him 'Winch' like that of an anchor's? What a name! So now you think that wreaking your vengeance on me will bring everything right back into this world? You going to avenge your brother?"

I flicked my right wrist, my other blade extending. "No. No, I am going to kill you because you're a Templar that has corrupted their last soul." I tossed my dagger to the ground in front of him. "Pick up that knife and fight me. Fight me so I can make sure that this was worth my effort."

Xavier laughed as he got out of his bed. "I suppose I should at least give you that. Doesn't change the fact that all you Assassins are deluded fools."

He pulled the knife out and jumped for me. For a potbellied old man, he was surprisingly quick. He lunged for me and swiped rapidly, laughing with pride as I dodged each of his attacks.

"I desire to even the odds. Guards!"

I cursed as they all charged for me. Jumping up, I kicked two of them out of the way, falling off the balconies to their deaths. I drew my sword as two others attacked me at once. I grabbed the guard on the left side's arm and forced his sword into his comrade's face, then slashed his throat open with my hidden blade as blood spurted out. Four remained, but one of them held his hands up, surrendering. I grabbed his shirt collar and headbutted him to knock him out. I then pulled out three throwing knifes and tossed them at the remaining guards. The first two hit them both in the eyes and they fell to the ground, already on their way to the Reaper. The third was hit in the chest but was gone by the time I had my sword to him.

I saw after I finished with him that Xavier was trying to escape through one of the narrow walkways. I grabbed him and threw him back towards the center of the room.

"You're all the same to me, Assassin. It's always 'kill, kill, kill' with you."

I kicked him onto the railing before the stained glass window. "And with you it's always 'enslave, humiliate, and corrupt.'"

Xavier tried hitting me back, but I was too quick for him. I grabbed him by the waist and tossed him onto the window, his weight cracking it.

In my satchel I had what I planned to use on him all this time. Winch's rope, with a grappling hook attached. I hooked it to the railing and then jumped onto the window, Xavier trying to crawl away.

"No more running, fucker." I said.

Xavier suddenly got back up and hit me right in the nose. The two of us suddenly forgot about our weapons and started punching like a couple of boys in the dirt. But he was so stubborn that he would never admit he was too old and weak for me. I had him down on his knees, the window barely supporting us any longer.

"I'm here to kill you for all you did to Winch, Cora, and everyone else you've killed, enslaved, or corrupted. But the truth is that even I think that no one deserves to truly know your fate. You must die and Winch gave me the way to do it."

I held the rope up, demonstrating the fate that was awaiting Xavier, but his lack of respect for his enemies and his stubbornness only made him laugh weakly, coughing up blood.

"You would say that I had no reason to kill him. That he was no threat to me. All Assassins are threats to the legacy that I have worked so hard to build for the Templars."

"Aye. And I'm the one who may have just taken the last piece out to make it all come crashing down. Who will lead the Templars now that you are dead?"

"Cora had potential. And she still does. Under the guidance of my other brothers, she will learn to lead the Templars, and then the realm."

I got down close to him. "Not if I have a say in it."

The rope was right around Xavier's neck, but he was just barely conscious enough to see it. I'm personally glad that I killed him; because I could tolerate the stubborn lack of respect he had for his enemies. Anyone else like Cora might have only showed him the disrespect someone as heartless would give him.

"_Hvil I Fred_, you bastard." I said as I stood above him, bringing my sword down on the glass.

With a shattering crash, the window fell through. I grabbed onto the rope and watched as Xavier's face turned red from his last desperate attempts at a breath. Sliding down, I stopped at his body, twenty feet above the ground, and grabbed his Templar ring after noticing it on his finger.

"A souvenir, I think." I said as I heard the guards running into the room above.

I cut the rope and sent the both of us falling down onto the ground, then picked up his body and slung him over my shoulder. I knew exactly where to put him.

The line between justice and revenge is a strange one. Some among us say that they are both very different things. While the fools among us will say that they are exactly the same and there is no real difference. But there is some truth between both these statements. The truth is that justice and revenge are only what we believe them to be. The act can be seen as one, the other, or both., depending on who it is that sees the act. It is that they are all ideals, not acts. I know now what it truly means between the two. I could have killed Xavier while thinking that I was doing it because it was what he deserved after what he did to Winch. Instead, all I could think about was how many lives I had saved from his tyranny and madness as I brought the blade into his throat. I brought death upon him not because he deserved it, but because the world would be better off without him and the corruption that he brought. Without him, the Templars would be running scared for the foreseeable future, and I would be able to rest easy knowing that I had put a Templar Grand Master where he belonged.

I dropped Xavier's body onto the pine needle littered ground. It was cold and damp that morning in the forest, but knowing where we were, that was something that was just what I had learned to live with, having lived close by for a part of my life.

"Only the worst criminals in this war of ours get banished here, Your Majesty." I said, starting to dig the hole for him. "This place is one where we have executed or buried the worst Templars and Rogues because of their extreme violations and perversions to our beliefs. You should know that I was given permission to dump your body here because you broke the worst of our beliefs: the one who wishes death on another must do the deed themselves. I would have understood you to killing Winch if you had done it yourself. But none of us can forgive you for not doing it yourself. That's why you're going to be left here to rot. Instead of having all your Templar brothers and your newly corrupted protégé Cora there to mourn you, the only creatures that will take notice of your body are the crows that will pick the skin off your bones, and the maggots that will eat what remains. That's the fate that awaits any soul that is banished to The Gates. To be left here is to be branded a real traitor to the Creed, and the Assassins."

After burying Xavier in the other realm, I sent Ava a raven telling her I wouldn't be back for a few months. I would keep in contact with her until then.

The first snows of the winter were falling as I walked up the frozen dirt path into the village. Yurness. It was very good to be home. The only place I knew where citizens, smallfolk, and Assassins could live safely together. Where everyone knew everyone.

"Norik has returned!" Someone called out as I walked up the hill towards my little cottage.

Several of my Assassin friends noticed me as they walked in the other direction.

"Norik!" I heard the younger boy, Maunu call out. "You've been gone a long time! Some of us believed you were dead!"

"Not yet. I am very much alive!" I stopped walking as they did. "Is Karina still here?"

"She is, Norik. But it's been very long. None of us have heard her speak since you left."

I nodded solemnly. "She has every reason to feel her pain. I only hope that she will remember why I left and what it meant."

I resumed walking and headed up the steps to my front porch. I opened the door to my cabin and closed it behind me.

She sat there in front of the fire, huddled up in her cloak, shivering. Her shiny brown hair over her right shoulder, and her eyes as perfect as I remembered them. The deepest shade of green, like the most precious pair of emeralds.

She didn't look up or flinch when I closed the door, nor did she speak. I walked over to her very slowly; hoping that nothing that had happened while I was gone had scared her too much. I knelt down in front of the chair and took her hands. She looked at me with genuine surprise.

"Varina…" I said.

She kept her eyes locked on me, still not speaking.

"I thought of you every day while I was gone, my beloved. All the gold and all the jewels meant nothing to me. And every soul I saved gave me joy nowhere close to the joy I felt when you were in my dreams. Please, Varina."

She still didn't speak, only looking at me.

"Xavier is dead, my love. But it wasn't until I did it that I realized what was keeping me from coming back here all this time. It was shame towards you and Winch. The shame of having to face you if I let his killers run loose in this world. Revenge drove me, but justice was what I ended with. And now I can't think of doing anything more than putting down my sword for the foreseeable future and spending the rest of my days with you."

No response.

"My love! Please" I started tearing up. "It would mean nothing to me to have killed a devil like Xavier if I'm not forgiven. I can't face you, and I spent a whole year trying to work up the courage to do so!"

I put my face in my hands, as Varina still looked at me. I was feeling my heart truly break until I heard what I hoped for: The most beautiful sound in the realm.

"You didn't need my forgiveness, Norik. You only needed yours."

I looked up from my hands. She was smiling through her tears.

"Why would you even need my forgiveness? If I am yours and you are mine, I would hope that there doesn't need to be forgiveness. There need be only love. And I love you with all my heart."

I embraced her, taking in her sweet smell. Varina always loved wearing the scent of lilacs.

"And I love you, my beloved." I replied.

**Asgeir POV**

_Day 679 of exile_

The nightmares last night had led me to a corner of the forests that I hadn't been to. At the bottom of a steep ravine made of giant boulders, I had found a stream with crystal clear water and had ended up waking in it. I marked the location of it on my map because the water was the freshest I had ever drank before. I filled my canteen up with it before heading on my way back.

When I reached the top of the ravine, the grove I was in was very mossy and overgrown, even by the standards of the Northwest's rainforests. Many trees had fallen down in that area, rotted, and let more grow where they had once stood tall and proud. I was climbing over the top of a fallen tree's trunk, when I slipped on the moistened moss and fell onto the ground below it.

Something somewhat sharp jabbed into my back when I fell.

"Ah!" I groaned, getting up. "What the hell...?"

I looked down and picked up what I fell on, thinking it was a rock. I got a surprise instead.

"Bones." I said to myself. I brushed some of the leaves aside seeing that I had fallen right on someone's grave. The skull had shattered when I landed on it, and a good piece of it had jabbed right into my back. Who it belonged to, I would not get the answer for several more years. I gathered up the bones and placed them carefully under a pile of sticks and stones. The Assassin that buried this person may not have had much respect for him for dumping his body here, but I felt like I should have owed a bit to him.


	22. Chapter 22: A Jackdaw or an Eagle

Chapter 22: A Jackdaw, or an Eagle

**A/N: Black Flag was one of my favorite titles in the whole series of games, but I am just as excited for Syndicate after I hated Unity so much. It wasn't it's glitches so much (considering I didn't really have much of them) it was more of how stupid I thought the characters and the whole plot was. Arno was just as stupid as Edward in the beginning but the difference is that one of them was denied admission into the Brotherhood until he shaped up and learned that what he was doing was wrong, and the other was recruited too early and made his own rules like a bad boy just so he could impress a girl he liked. Don't even get me started on the Council of Masters in the game as those guys looked too much like a higher council of Templars and was essentially the pot calling the kettle black when they said that the Templars order their underlings around or something (The plot annoyed me so much, I barely paid attention). As for Elise? I can't bloody even- just… no! So I'm hoping Syndicate will be a breath of really fresh air considering that both main characters are full fledged Assassins in the beginning.**

**I will admit that this isn't the last time I plan on making the POV character one of the player characters from a previous game. As I said a long time ago, there is history that leads up to Asgeir's Story from all over the course of the series. We will see what happened with Shay after the events of Rogue, and maybe a couple other events that were left open ended. If things go well for Syndicate's story, I have a way to incorporate the Twins in.**

* * *

**Edward POV**

_Great Inagua. June 1716_

A month ago I was shown something that fitted the very definition of "impossible". When you hear that word, you'd probably think of a man, walking about the village, claiming that his own piss could cure scurvy if you drank it, only to find that not only would it do just that, but it would taste like the best rum this side of the West Indies. Or maybe you'd think of a ship that floated like any other even though it was made completely out of gold. Maybe you'd even think of what I think of when I say "impossible". I think of the statue that James Kidd showed me in Tulum after a run in with his "mentor", the Assassin leader Ah Tabai. A bust bearing the face of a man I had only seen in the last year, yet the statue itself was hundreds of years old.

His name was Bartholomew Roberts, but both of the kinds of men that sought him called him "The Sage". Both these men, these Templars and Assassins knew that Roberts had the location of a machine known as the Observatory, which was capable of witnessing whatever anyone in the world would be doing, and where they were. When I first encountered them, the Templars said that they would use the machine to ensure that there would be no secrets between people anymore, finally achieving world peace. I said sod off to that, and ended up returning to Nassau to my fellow sailors with a new ship, the _Jackdaw_, and a crew. When Kidd took me to Tulum, I learned about the Assassins and how they instead wanted to stop the machine from working so that the Templars had no way to spy on all the world.

It really makes not a Devil's curse to me what either side intends to do with the machine. What does matter to me is the same of what matters most in Nassau in our republic of pirates. We are not men meant to govern or plunge headlong on the madness of a single man. We take, we spend, and live heartily We act accordingly to our own collective madness. Nothing more than what we love to do and what we please to do. It's the life that Ed Thatch,, Ben Hornigold and I have built up and intend to keep that way for as long as we all live on this earth.

* * *

That morning on the beach I spent drinking from what was left of a bottle of fine rum my quartermaster Adéwale and I had found in the deck below the ship. We both shared it and spent the whole night singing loudly with all the other drunken fools from either our crew or another's. Adé was hesitant of drinking as much as I did, but at my encouragement he had just as much fun as I promised him he would. He now lay on the rough sand on the beach, passed out hard while I finished what was left as the sun rose. The beach we were on was through the jungle on the eastern side of the island, which took the sort of shape of a "U", while the manor and it's village lay in the center of it. From here on east it was open waters as far as the eye could possibly see.

People in the West Indies talk about how if you watched closely as the sun either rose or set, you might catch a glimpse of a green flash where it stood. I never could tell if it was a bad omen or some sign of any kind, but I had tried it several times. And I had seen it only minutes ago. Now the sun was rippling over the water from the heat and whatnot. As it rose higher and higher, I saw the familiar outline of a ship sailing closer and closer. I couldn't make out her sails or flag, so I took out my spyglass and peered through it.

"Adé." I said.

He snorted a bit, spitting sand out of his mouth as he laid face first in the dirt.

She was nearing, and I still had no idea what to make of it. Had the Crown come to ruin our fun already? I was feeling uneasy; though I reckoned most of it came from the splitting melon of a head I now had leftover from the merry times we had spent last night.

"Adé!" I said again, a little louder.

When he didn't answer again, I slapped his bald head and he awoke suddenly. His eyes snapped open, but he squinted them shut just as he stood up.

"Captain!" He exclaimed. "Oh, breddah! I feel like my head's been used by our cannons and shot right at a Spanish galleon."

"Ah. You get used to it, Adéwale. You'll see."

"Now, what is it, Captain?"

"What do you make of that ship, Quartermaster?" I said, handing him the spyglass.

Adé took it in his hand, and looked through. He nodded as he pulled it away. "I think she hold friends, Captain. I can see the colors she's flying."

He passed the spyglass back to me, and I looked through again. This time the ship was turning starboard-wise to the north. One of her swivels shot towards the island, but the manner of which suggested just as much that they were friends, not fiends. Not a warning shot, but a greeting shot. I could make out her flag more clearly now, and after I could, I smiled as I stood up, no way of mistaking the black flag with her skull and crossbones.

* * *

Adé and I headed through the jungles, skulls feeling cracked open like coconuts once we reached the outskirts of the village. As we reached the beach with a few of the crew looking out, we could see the ship sliding into port.

She was a beauty of a brig, with white sails and a yellow and blue finish on her hull. Or she would be a beauty, if it didn't look like she had just faced a huge hulking beast. Some of the sails were burned so much they looked blacker than white and the hull was chipped badly. The captain was at the helm with his first mate, and as it was finishing docking, they both got off.

The captain was dressed all in leather from head to toe, with a red vest and a hook for his right hand. His first mate was short and somewhat overweight, with a red toque on his head. He looked very nervous aside from his captain, who smirked as he strod up towards us as we climbed up onto the dock.

"C-captain." The first mate stuttered. "I'm not so sure about- "

"Enough, Mr. Smee." The captain snarled to him. He nodded as he walked up.

"Greetings, friends." I said when he walked over. "Welcome to our island of the Great Inagua. I'm Captain Edward Kenway of the _Jackdaw._"

The captain gave me a nod and held out his good hand for me to shake. "Captain Killian Jones of the _Jolly Roger_. Although my enemies and crew call me 'Hook'."

I chuckled as we started walking towards shore. "What brings you to the West Indies, Hook?" I asked. "Thirsty for adventure?"

"Aye." He replied. "Or rather we would be, if we weren't in need of help. We've sailed a long way from England to join in on the mayhem here. On our way however, we encountered a pair of massive ships by the name of the _Fearless_ and the _Royal Sovereign_. Somewhere northeast of here."

Adé realized something. "Captain!" He exclaimed. "Those ships are feared throughout these waters as some of the largest beasts in George's fleet. It's a wonder you made it out alive, Captain Hook."

Hook nodded and glimpsed at his first mate. "Aye. Mr. Smee is still shaking from that cannonball almost taking his own nose off. Although come to think about it, he's always shaking."

When we reached the end of the dock, Hook stopped at the harbormaster's booth and rang the bell. He came up to the front from the back.

"What can I do ye for?" He trilled.

Hook placed a small coin purse on the counter. "My ship is in need of repairs, and we have some cargo aboard that can be of use. Eighteen dozen barrels of rum, and seventeen kegs of sugar."

The harbormaster grinned. He had several missing teeth, but it looked better than half my crew. "Yes. This will do fine. I'll have someone bring the cargo aboard and see you paid for this. Thank you."

Hook and I then headed over to the tavern as Smee started back to the ship. He sat down at the table, and mopped his brow, taking a long drink out of his hip flask.

"Jaysus, mate. That cargo will be quite a bit of gold around here, but you don't seem too pleased about it.

"Even if we get the gold, those ships might recognize us if they come this way." Hook replied. "It looks like we're trapped here for the moment."

He took another drink, then held out his flask to me. I nodded and took a swig.

"Ah." I sighed. "That is fine rum right there."

"Only the best, I prefer. I heard there's an excellent plantation nearby that makes some that's even better than this."

I chuckled. "If you ever get out of here past those ships, please let me know where it is."

We both laughed for a bit over that. The irony of it all was what made me laugh the most. Ever since the King's men had come to Nassau, sniffing around for us pirates, Thatch, Ben and I had begun setting up proper defenses there. While we were setting it up, I had moved our sanctuary to this island I had stolen from Julien DuCasse just to ensure we wouldn't be attacked again.

Hook pointed at my own ship. "Is that one yours?"

"Aye. The _Jackdaw_."

"Like the pesky bird?"

"Heard that one before. You should meet Thatch and Ben if they ever finish fixing Nassau."

Hook keeping staring at the _Jackdaw_. "What's the biggest ship she's ever faced?"

I knew exactly what he was intending. "Not as big as the ones you want to take on, my friend. Unless you think any one of these other captains around here are mad enough to follow us."

Hook grinned as I said this. "You want to bet?"

* * *

Two other captains that were docked there agreed to help Hook. As pirates, we all look out for each other. Both of the ships were carrying at least twenty thousands Reales each. That meant ten apiece. As I pushed the wheel down, turning the _Jackdaw_ northwards, I saw Hook at the helm of his own ship. We both gave each other a wave as our ships sliced through the whitecaps, the two other ships behind us.

One of the crew suddenly yelled out. "Captain!" He cried. "Two ships ahead! They're making ready to fire!"

I nodded to Adé. "More sail!" I yelled. "All sail!"

"Prepare for battle, lads!" I heard Hook yell out to his own crew.

The _Jackdaw_ charged up towards the ship on the left, the _Fearless_. Luckily, Hook and I had made a plan of attack with the other captains. It was risky, but it would be successful if we played it right.

The _Royal Sovereign_ wasn't going to back down from it's opposition, even if it was four ships against two. I often knew from experience that size meant nothing when it came to battle. A schooner with a good crew and a proper captain could easily do what a perfect Man 'o War with a shite crew and negligent captain could not.

Hook and one of the other captains steered their ships to the right, heading directly into the path of the _Fearless'_ portside. I myself went to the left with the fourth captain, heading right into it's starboard side.

"Ready the cannons, men!" I called out. I stood tense enough in case of the ship readying to fire on our side. If it came to it, I needed to make sure a cannonball wouldn't take off my head.

The other captain's brig was right behind us, and with the combined forces of us, Hook's ship, and the other two, we were planning on ganging up on one of the ships to cripple her all in one go. Soon enough we were all in position. I then heard a round of cannonfire from the other side of the ship.

"AND FIRE!" I bellowed.

Every cannon on board unleashed hell as fiery steel spheres flew out their metal shelters, and slammed into the hull of the _Fearless_. Smoke and splinters floated through the air. I look back to see the _Sovereign_ turning around to try and come up behind us.

This is what both Hook and I anticipated, and knew what to do next.

"Ready mortars!" I called out.

The other three ships were also preparing their mortars for the _Sovereign_. The plan was essentially to fire the mortars at the ship that was furthest away, and all our other cannons at the one that was closest.

When Hook's ship fired their mortars, we followed and fire rained down from the sky on the other ship. I grinned as I looked back at the _Fearless_. Her crew was so shocked by the combined efforts of all four ships; none of her crew was ready to fire their cannons. Luckily, we were ready to attack once again.

"FIRE EVERY CANNON!" I screamed.

This time, the _Fearless_ was no match for us. It would normally make a fine prize for my fleet, but I decided that such a beast would be better off at the bottom of the Atlantic than still floating. And who is to say that the British wouldn't try to take her back from my hands if we got a hold of her?

Immediately the crew of the other ship on the other side of the _Fearless_ swung onto the ship to take her and the gold aboard. One down, and one more to go.

As we slid past the _Fearless_, I spotted Hook at the helm of his ship. We both gave a respectful wave to the other, and went back to sailing directly into the path of the _Sovereign_.

The _Sovereign_ wouldn't go down as easily as her friend. Her crew was already launching mortars into the air, so the three ships scattered fast and quickly, narrowly missing as many shots as they could. Unfortunately, three of my crew was crushed by the mortar fire hitting them directly from above. In their daze, some of them jumped overboard.

I'd worry about them later. I spun the wheel quickly to portside as the _Sovereign_ came up quickly towards the three of us.

The plan would change coming in now. The captain that was with us now had a ram fitted into the front of his ship, and knew that he could easily rush the _Sovereign_ if Hook and I covered him.

"Unfurl everything!" He cried as Hook and I steered our ships to either side of the _Sovereign. _Unfortunately, this is what she was anticipating. Every cannon on either side was preparing to fire.

"OH SHIT!" I cried. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" I dove for cover along with Adé as hell unleashed. The smoke and noise was disorienting. I could barely see or hear anything. As I felt around the deck, I suddenly clutched the bottom notches of the wheel. I used them to push me up and started yelling for my crew.

"They call that an attack?!" I roared. "Ready yourselves lads! By this time tomorrow we all will be richer and drunker than we ever have been before! I won't let that floating pisspot take us down, and I know you won't either! Shall we return that attack?!"

"AYE!" I heard the whole crew scream. I smiled as I steered the ship to have our broadside face the _Sovereign_.

"FIRE EVERYTHING!"

* * *

Hook walked about the deck as the gun smoke and splinters started to settle. As he saw the ship's captain dead at his feet, he chuckled.

"We did it, Kenway." He said. "The ships are gone, and the gold is ours."

As he said this the crews from each of ours ships carried forward the chests filled with their gold. I knelt down, only to find the chest locked. I pulled out one of the pistols on my front holster, and shot the lock open. I flipped open the chest and grinned,

"How does it look, Kenway?" One of the other captains asked.

I took the slip of parchment out of the chest and tucked it into one of my pockets, making sure the other captains did not see. Then I stepped away from the chest and turned it for us all to see.

"Mother Mary…" The other one said.

There was more than twenty thousand in just one of the chests. At least twice as much from what we could tell. What was just as valuable was the papers that came out of the second chest. Maps that led to even more chests from what we could tell. We didn't know how much was in the ones buried somewhere else in the Caribbean, but all the same, we each took a quarter of the maps and the gold we found on the ships before letting them burn to ashes as we all set off.

"So what next?" Hook called from the deck of his ship. The other two captains were headed back to the Inagua.

I smirked and held up the paper I had taken from the first chest. "You thirsty?" I asked.

Hook gave a puzzled sort of smile. "For what?"

I unfolded the parchment. "Taking King George's finest rum distillery on this side of the world!"

* * *

Hook and I had our adventure there, bringing back as many barrels as we could carry. Knowing that such a good place like this could not be wasted, we played it much smarter and ended up leaving the plantation with as much as we could carry, and none of the guards running the place all the more wiser.

I found the day ending almost the same way it started for me. Sitting down on the west beach at the Inagua, swigging back as much of the fine rum as I could with Hook and Adé with me. The small man, Smee was alright, but a little too jumpy for my taste.

"Aye, he is." Hook said when I mentioned that. "But he is loyal and does as I say. There is no better first mate than that."

I could not really respond to that. Adé had the role of quartermaster, and to me that meant him being a friend as much as a crewmember. I took another drink as I looked out at the setting sun.

"By your leave, Captain. I'm going back to the ship for an early night. My head still feels as it might explode any minute now."

I smirked. "Alright, Adé. Good night."

After Adé left, Hook spoke up. "If I may inquire, mate?"

"Sure thing." I replied. "What about?"

"That hood that your wearing. Is that something that most captains here wear to protect from the sun or something?"

I chuckled. "Nah. Nothing like that. It's more of a…uniform of a league of warriors. I killed one of them that was in the midst of betraying them and stole it off his corpse, but they will not accept me as one of their own ever since I met them and their king."

"Why not? Sounds to me that a Captain and pirate such as yourself is skilled enough to help them."

"Yes." I said, grinning. "They can't see that I am exactly what they need, and their beliefs are exactly what I want out of this life."

"I know what you mean." Hook said. "More than all this life of plundering and pillaging, I want nothing more than to find a man that has eluded me for many, many years."

It sounded to me like he too was looking for the Sage, but I decided not to mention it. Despite him being something of a friend for the day, I would not want to let him know of my intentions to find the Sage first.

"Well then." Hook held up his flask. "With that in mind, we both have our goals in mind. Wherever the waters take us, let us hope that they take us to whatever we desire."

I smirked. "To freedom!"

"Aye! And to freedom!"

I never saw Hook again after that day. I never found his name among all those that were hung for piracy, so I am left to assume now, that my friend for only a day found what he was looking for as I was, and escaped the crown. I will never have an answer to that question, but the uncertainty of it all gives me a sense of hope as opposed to fear. At least I can hope that one of my fellow pirates survived.

* * *

_December 1720_

As I walked up to the entrance of the temple, Adé stood at the entrance leaning on it's side. No longer my quartermaster, but soon to be my brother at arms, he and I could only laugh at the ironic place we had landed ourselves into in the last few years.

I always thought that the Creed was one I could use to further myself and say sod all to what others thought. But now it all makes better sense now that I have seen both the Templars and Assassins, and what they seek.

"Nothing is True". It means that you cannot let others tell you what to think; lest you subject yourself to the chains you swear to break. There is no higher power or God that can tell you what is right and what isn't. That is for you to find out yourself. "Everything is Permitted". It is our freedom to make our own choices, but there will be consequences to these choices. If you are prepared to face them, then you know what the Creed means.

I raised my hood as I walked down the walkway. Ah Tabai stood at the end of the temple at it's altar, a bowl of hot coals in front of him. As I passed several of the Assassins watching my induction, I spotted Anne. She smiled at me, and it brought a small tear to my eye. All that she had lost, and yet she still could smile like that.

When I reached the steps up to the altar, Ah Tabai began chanting.

"_Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale koulon moumkine._" He recited, his hands outwards in front of him. "The wisdom of the Creed is revealed through these words passed down through the ages. We work in the shadows to serve the light. We are Assassins."

Tabai looked down at me, and nodded. I walked up the steps and over to the bowl.

"Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember…"

"Nothing is True." I replied.

Tabai gave a quick nod. "And where other men are chained by morals and laws, remember…"

"Everything is Permitted."

"Captain Edward Kenway. You stand before the Assassins, at the heart of our Creed. Are you ready to take the path of the eagle and join us?"

"I am."

"Speak the tenets."

I placed my fist over my heart. "I swear to stay my blade from the flesh of an innocent. I swear to hide in plain sight. And I swear to never compromise the Brotherhood."

Tabai smiled a little as I heard what I thought was "never _again_" from him. He then pulled out a pair of hot pincers from the bowl and held them out. A tradition practiced by many since the days of an Assassin Crusader named Altaïr, it meant that Tabai would be burning my ring finger to symbolize how the first hidden blades had their owners remove their ring fingers for the blades to work properly.

I hesitated for a moment, before holding out my hand and spacing apart my fingers. Ah Tabai placed the pincers close to my hand and clamped them down on my finger. It hurt just as much as I expected, but it was over in a few seconds. After he finished, he placed his fist over his heart.

"We welcome our new brother, Captain Edward Kenway. Nothing is True!"

"Everything is Permitted." The Assassins murmured.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ah Tabai and I stood at the top of the temple. It would be here that I would take the Leap of Faith.

"You seem somewhat troubled, Captain Kenway."

I glanced back at Ah Tabai. "Aye. I've a lot to prove before calling myself a true Assassin. Torres and Roberts are a start. Torres once told me as I saw my fellow pirates being brought to the gallows that it would be my own fate if I failed to cooperate with his rule."

"But now?"

I glanced out into the bay. My ship was now flying new colors: the black flag and skull with the Assassin insignia. "Now I have taken the hood and said the words. I will choose a new path, but I will never cooperate with those bastards."

And with that fury in mind, I took a running start as I leapt to the haystack below.

* * *

**A/N: See, Edward's story was one that I enjoyed immensely compared to Arno's. What made it so good was that Edward didn't become an Assassin automatically, and had to earn his place in the Assassins before becoming one. Arno, on the other hand was inducted way too early by a bunch of idiot Assassin Mentors and had to be banished by them and see the woman that he stupidly loved more than he really should have be killed before finally getting smart and realizing that the rules of the Assassins actually meant something.**

**I already will address that I have a continuity error in this that I am fixing. Hook mentioned to Asgeir previously that Edward had him at the edge of a sword before letting him go, but that didn't happen in this chapter. While it made sense at first, over time it just didn't seem to fit from what I wanted to do in this chapter. So I'm already backtracking to fix that little error. I just wanted to address it before someone else did.**

**Also, the last scene was one that I personally would have liked if they had something like it in the game. Every other Assassin had a somewhat traditional induction. Granted Connor didn't as much, but Achilles said so that it just didn't seem right. And even Shay had a great induction scene into the Templars in Rogue. So why didn't Edward get one?**

**Currently working hard on the next chapter, kicking ass at Syndicate, and working at my job. Now we're reaching a good final stretch to the end of Sequence Two so we can start Asgeir's fight against Ingrid again! Get ready!**


	23. Chapter 23: A Curious Thing

**A/N: Glad to be able to update so soon, and I'm already more than halfway done with the next chapter**

**This note right here is more of a mini-review of Syndicate since I last updated right before it was about to release out.**

**Was Syndicate good? Oh, man. When I heard the next game was going to take place in Victorian England, I was hesitant at first. It's a very important part of history that I had wanted to see for a very long time in Assassin's Creed, but after the shitstorm that was Unity, I didn't want them to spoil such a great part of history with another bad game. Fortunately, Syndicate was one of the best Assassin's Creed games easily making my top 5 favorites (From best to least best, Brotherhood, Syndicate, Black Flag, 3, and Rogue.) Great main characters with great dialogue exchanges between them, a solid story with excellent historic figures (that also had good comedic moments as though it didn't have to take itself so seriously) , a refined stealth system that actually made stealth a fun walk in the park instead of a stupid chore like in Unity, and a pretty good ending. IGN bashed the ending in their review, but I enjoyed the ending for the Frye twins and how it played out. I will agree that now the modern day parts of the game make no damn difference anymore ever since Desmond has died and we are now playing a string of random, nameless, faceless, voiceless, computer operators with no end in sight, waiting for Juno. Seriously, every game she says "I am close to being ready for this world." Hey Ubisoft! Crazy idea I came up with! If you're saying that Juno is almost ready to come into this world, THEN DO IT ALREADY! It's been three years since AC3's ending! GET ON WITH IT! No one cares about the modern day events anymore!**

**I will however credit how I was excited to see both Otso Berg and Violet DeCosta appear as I both think them to be badass Templars and I simultaneously hate their guts and idolize them. At least they're the kinds of villains that are cool enough with understandable motivations. They make way better sense than some villains. Ahem, ahem, Zelena and Ingrid.**

**So was Syndicate better than Unity? That's not setting the bar high in any way, so instead I'll say that it brought back all my fond memories of playing Brotherhood and then added in a cleverly written story with great protagonists (and antagonists). And it was so good enough, that I am checking everyday on news for Jack the Ripper. That was the one thing that I needed more than anything else for Syndicate. The two things I needed in it were Queen Victoria, and Jack the Ripper! We get both!**

**Hope you guys have tried Syndicate or at least consider when I say that I liked the Twins so much that I am working on incorporating them into Faith as well as working on a small side project with them as the protagonists that should be coming on in the next month. Syndicate gets a 9 out of 10 for me!**

* * *

Chapter 23: A Curious Thing

Hallucinations aren't just visions that haunt you. For me, they showed me things I think I always knew, but refused to believe. And even when I knew he was a ghost, my mind was so broken; it believed that Shay was real because I could really feel him. You see, most people can't feel or touch what they see in theirs. I learned several times over that while I couldn't really hurt Shay, he sure could hurt me. Some might say it was I punching myself from their point of view, but it truly was him punching me.

I had ended my nightly parasomniac sleepwalking with my face down on the table of the bar in the pub like any other drunk passed out. Only difference is they got a much more pleasant wakeup call. I woke up to having Shay grab my shaggy hair, pull my head up, and slam my face down on the table.

"Wake up, Reaper!" He called in a singsong voice. "We got some dyin' to do. Or in your case, to not do."

I rubbed my face, my ears ringing from what had just hit me. I shot a murderous look at Shay, but did not say anything because Kevan was pulling the chairs down from the tabletops and wiping them, readying to open the pub for business. How would he react if he saw me awake and talking to myself?

"Ooh! I'm soo scared!" Shay laughed.

"Asgeir. Glad to see you were passed out and not dead." Kevan said as he got up to the bar. "I got the cooks making breakfast as we speak. Care for one of my special omelets? There's a hidden ingredient in it instead of a hidden blade."

Jason and Zar were walking in from the inn as I nodded. "And coffee, too." I added.

"Thank heaven, Asgeir." Jason said as he sat down on my left side. "We feared we'd have to go looking for you again, asleep in a ditch."

"Sleepwalking?" Zar asked.

I nodded without words as Kevan poured the three of us coffees.

"Jason told me what's wrong with you. Did you ever consider strapping yourself to your bed?" He asked.

"Several times while I was exiled in The Gates. That was when the nightmares started, but even tying myself to the bed made it impossible to keep myself from leaving. I'm always having to find my way back to where I had originally fallen asleep."

"That's rough." Jason said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"This guy must be genius of the year." Shay said as I sipped my coffee. "Quick! Someone get him a Nobel Prize!"

I ignored him. "Was there any updates on Zelena and her monkeys last night?"

Zar shook his head. "It's been a week, and nothing. She doesn't have much to do left except protect the items she already has and wait until the Charmings' baby is born. Granted we're also still looking for her new hideout, and that hasn't gone well either. She must have figured out how to blind the drones we have sweeping the woods."

"From what I remember hearing, neither of the Charmings have gotten so much of a glimpse of any flying monkeys. We have at least two Assassins close by them in every waking hour, and Emma and Regina are both doing what they can alongside us. It's quite impressive to see us fighting alongside one of the worst Templar Queens in our history."

My phone suddenly rang as Kevan placed my breakfast in front of me.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Asgeir." It was David's voice. "We could use your help here. Can you come to the loft in 15?"

"Be right there."

As I hung up, Zar got up.

"I'll head over with you, too. It's Jason's turn to stay here to oversee today's operations."

* * *

Zar and I headed up the stairs to Snow and David's loft and I knocked on the door as I opened it up. They must have fixed the frame from when I kicked it in a few weeks ago, because it looked brand new and freshly painted.

"Asgeir." Emma said somewhat curtly as we walked in. She glanced at Zar. "And you are?"

"Salazar Cortez, Emma. But everyone calls me Zar."

Emma sighed a little angrily. It was no mystery how she didn't really trust me considering most of what she was seeing of me was personal anger towards Zelena. Still raw over blowing up the farmhouse, I figured.

"What do you guys need our help with?" I asked.

"It's a book that we're looking for." Regina said. "Henry's book."

"You mean his book of fairy tales?" Zar asked.

I was confused. "I don't get it. What's an ordinary book got to do with taking down Zelena?"

David opened up a drawer and started going through it. "It's more than a book, Asgeir. It's almost something that this world of ours seems to revolve around. Everything that has happened to us has been written down in this book. Everything as it happened to all of us."

"So you're thinking that whatever we need to defeat Zelena is written in the book?" I asked.

David shook his head. "No, not exactly. We think that this new Curse that brought us over and our erased memories means that we already should know how to defeat Zelena."

"But in order to break it, we think we need to get Henry to believe again." Snow added.

Zar's eyes lit up. "So he believes, and this whole Curse gets broken."

"That's right." David said. "And this book was Henry's true source of belief. With his memories erased, this might be the only way to restore them."

I had barely seen much of the boy, and he didn't mean that much to me because of that, so why I should track down his bloody book escaped me at the moment. But I kept my mouth shut as I saw Zar start to help the others look around the loft for the book. I almost thought for a second that this book might have a mention of me at some point. But I would ask later.

David grabbed a briefcase from under the bed and placed it on top of it as he opened it. "Why do women keep all their shoeboxes?" He asked, out loud.

I chuckled. "I would sooner try to solve the mysteries of every Precursor artifact ever found, than try and figure out a woman's logic, Shepherd." I then glanced back at Snow. "No offense, love."

"It's fine." She said. "It's because after true love there is no more powerful magic than footwear. It must be protected."

"Of course." I muttered, opening a trunk at the end of the bed and looking through.

"Any sign of the book?" Emma asked.

"No. I don't think it's here." David said.

"You don't know that." Snow called from the closet.

Emma came out with another box. "Maybe it's in this thing."

As she opened it, Zar got up from the box he was working on to come over and help.

Emma opened the box and rummaged through the contents. "Ah. Some winter coats, some scarves." She sighed. "The book is not in here."

"Isn't this thing magic?" Zar asked. "It's possible it's just going to appear out of thin air like a myth."

Emma shook her head. "I don't know, Zar." She said, sitting down on the bed.

Snow looked over at the box. "Here, let me check." She said, reaching over to the box. Emma looked doubtfully as she saw her mother rustle through the clothes, but neither she, not I could understand it. The book suddenly fell out of the inside of a tweed jacket and landed in the box.

"How the fuck…?" I began.

Snow picked it up, gazing at the title with wide eyes. Once Upon a Time.

"I…don't understand." Emma said, confused.

"Can I see that?" Regina asked, reaching her hand out. Without words, Snow handed the book to her. "I know there are chapters on Oz in here. I want to know whose heart Zelena crushed to enact this Curse. Because if there's something she loved, then that's her weakness."

I looked back at Regina with slight horror as she walked out of the room. When Zar noticed me, he waved to David.

"We're gonna head back to Cormac's." He said. "If you need us, just call."

David nodded, going after Regina.

As we walked down the stairs and out towards the lobby door, Zar stopped point blank and looked back at me.

"Something you not telling me?"

I shrugged one shoulder, taking a cigarette out as I kept walking. "There's plenty I'm not telling anyone here, Zar. A lot of it's personal stuff, but what you mean is what Regina said back there."

"She said she wanted to use Zelena's love for something against her as her weakness. You reacted like you heard something like that before."

"Aye." I replied. "I did. Or rather, my grandfather Norik did."

"Norik of Yurness? What did he have to do with Regina?"

"Nothing. It was her mother, Cora that Norik was involved with. What do you know about Cora?" I wanted to test his knowledge of that ruthless Templar.

"Uh…" Zar thought hard, squinting his eyes, trying to remember his history lessons with Matthew. "She took the reins of Grand Master of the Templar Order in the Enchanted Forest a year after the assassination of King Xavier, where she threw the Order into a state of fear as their ruler. Not long before Regina became Grand Master, she disappeared for a while before showing back up as the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland. We've never really had a solid branch there, so we never bothered to go after her."

"Right." I replied, opening the door as we stepped outside into the crisp, early spring air. "But there's more to it than that." I took a drag off my cigarette. "I was actually asking what the earliest recording of her in our war was."

"Didn't I say that?"

"No, but you have no way to know the truth because Norik never told anyone what happened that caused Cora to become a Templar, and the worst part is that she blamed him for it."

"What? Why?"

"They were friends, a long time ago. Norik had met her while he spent almost two years of his life tracking down his fiancé's father's murderers. When she was wronged by two different people, Norik took pity on her and killed one of them. But she wasn't satisfied with just one of them, and wanted the other one killed as well. That one was the then-Princess Ava of the Northern Kingdom."

"Wait, Snow's mother?!"

"Indeed. Shocked me to say the least when I saw what she once was. That day that Regina's spell brought Cora's spirit back from the dead, she transferred most of Norik's memories of those 2 years into my mind. I remember things I shouldn't, and a lot of it was pain for that woman and the corruption that touched and rotted her to the core."

Zar shook his head. "I don't even know where to begin from all you've told me, but I think we got other stuff to take care of. C'mon. Let's at least see if any of the sensors picked up another lab."

* * *

I pulled the truck up close to the curb and shut the engine off. Zar and I got out of the truck and he pointed.

"There! That house right there."

He was pointing to the beige house a few doors down. I followed close behind as he crossed the road.

"How is it that we were even able to set up these sensors in the first place on other people's houses? Surely, someone would have noticed us setting them up here."

"Not really. This is Geoff's home. We've done some work into moving our own homes around Storybrooke so that we have as much tactical coverage as possible. Of course, Geoff didn't mind that the sensors be put up. Most of the others think Project Boden is just a pet project for Jason and me. All that matters to most of us is that we're protected enough to take down Zelena and Ingrid. Since he hasn't really done much in the last year, no one really gives a second thought on George."

Zar and I walked down the alleyway behind Geoff's house. As we vaulted over his fence I spotted a white van from Cormac's pass by.

"We're on the edge now that Zelena is starting to squeeze Storybrooke harder for the Charmings' baby. More troop patrols about town and everything." He said as he started climbing the drainpipe. "Let's just hope that that baby is coming a lot later than we think. I don't think we have any way to kill Zelena yet."

When he was up onto the roof, I quickly climbed up right behind him. I hated irony like this. Zar just mentioned how we had no way to kill Zelena, and I had been holding the Bullets for so long.

The Bullets of Eden were not exactly what you'd expect out of a Piece of Eden. While most are treasured artifacts that only a handful of exist, the Bullets are a lot different. They can be made with a combination of standard metals that bullets are made out of, and the energies that release out of a number of Pieces. I learned how to forge them long ago whenI grabbed an Apple I had been searching for while Snow and Charming fought their war against Regina.

The Bullets are the one thing that I needed the most in this fight as a last resort. They cannot be stopped once they are shot out of whatever gun fired them. No magic can freeze them in midair, protect oneself from the shot, or even destroy it before it hits them. The Dark One can die from the wounds from a Bullet, but I didn't entirely want to use them on the people I planned to kill. When I finally would have each of those devils in my hands, I would make it nice and slow so that they could suffer as I have.

Still, the others had their plans for how they wanted to take on Zelena and Ingrid. But I had a different one. And if I wanted to have my own agenda fulfilled, I needed to start trusting people who could support me. Zar might be a start.

"We _could_ try and kill her, Zar." I said. "But she's not what's stopping us entirely. Even if we wanted to, I doubt anyone else in this town would ever trust us again."

"Well, that'll be their problem, not ours. We can't really say that we're the good guys here, but what we do is for the betterment of everyone else considering who we fight are even worse than us."

"See, that's what I always knew." I said. "Ever since Anna and Elsa were killed, I know now that there's no more room for mercy to those that wish harm on us. It's more than just kill or be killed. It's burn them or suffer. You understand, right?"

Zar took hold of the sensor's box and inserted his key into the lock. "I understand- yes!" He interrupted himself and pulled out another paper with random numbers and letters all over it. "Another lab to find." He folded the paper up and put it into his backpack. "I understand that we need to be better people even if that means doing what most others of our conviction will not. It's what being an Assassin means. Many hate us, including those that we seek to protect for the sole purpose of ensuring their freedom, but still we fight to stop the Templars, and even people like Zelena and Ingrid."

"So if I was given the chance to kill either of them, you wouldn't stop me?"

Zar looked at me, puzzled. "No, Asgeir. There's a lot that we all have gone through over the past decades ever since Arendelle was thrown back into it's frozen ruin. Matthew has lost his faith in you, but that is his problem. You were the one who found me as a lowly pickpocket on the streets and you brought me back to Arendelle. Jason and I still believe in you, and so do Ashley and Ruby. I trust you still where everyone else who voted against you do not."

I replied by pulling my satchel off and opening it up. I dug down to the bottom of it until I found the bundle. I then placed it into Zar's hands and pointed at it.

"You trust me. So then I feel that you should know about these things."

Zar unwrapped the bundle and looked at the pile of them. I forged at least eighteen Bullets in the last thirty years and had only used two. These were what remained.

"What are they? Pieces of Eden?"

"Of a kind. These are bullets charged with the energies of a Piece. They can kill anything regardless of the protection of magic that surrounds a soul."

"What, like the Dark One?"

"Anything. Any being mortal or immortal can be killed by these Bullets. There is no way to truly stop them."

"So these are a way how we can kill Zelena?"

I nodded. "This is one way, but I think of them as a last resort."

His eyes lit up in somewhat horrified understanding. "You don't want to just kill those who we are targeting. You want to break them."

I scowled, although more at the fact and not at Zar. "They have all done things worse to me than killing me. Zelena had Rory turned into a monkey, and even though I had just met him, I never got the chance to truly make a warrior as brave as him my brother. Rumplestiltskin took away Anna's innocence and laughed when he did it. And he did it all so he could open a goddamn door. And Ingrid…"

Zar was about to say something, when we heard a loud shriek. We both looked up to see three flying monkeys dive bombing the roof.

"Go!" I called out. "Get the truck! I'll hold them off!"

Zar gave a quick nod and leapt off the roof of the house, doing a slow front flip as I heard the familiar screech of an eagle. The air also filled with the screeches of the monkeys as they repeatedly swooped down and tried to claw at me. It was useless to try to kill me, but even some things like those monkeys still frightened me. The biggest thought that filled me with the sense of dread was wondering if Rory was one of those monkeys, or if he was even still alive.

Shay was sitting on one of the roof's vents. "Hey, I just thought of somethin'! Maybe you shoot and kill one of them, and they turn out to be Rory! Yet another one's blood on your hands, and this one would be an Irishman's, no less!"

I drew my swords and kept swiping at the monkeys just enough to keep them from diving at me again. After a couple swipes they gave up and began to hover around the house in a circle. I looked angrily up at all of them, daring them to try and attack me once again.

"C'mon, you feathered Kongs! I'll slice you up like a banana if you try and kill me again!"

I heard the screech of tires in the street below and the honking of the truck's horn.

"Ta ta!" I called out, and ran for the edge of the house. As I jumped off the roof I turned to face the sky, pulled out my revolver and unloaded towards them as I fell into the back of the truck's cargo bed. Keeping what Shay had said in mind, I only shot towards them, but not at them.

Falling point blank on the truck's bed did hurt; I won't lie. But I was more focused on the monkeys as they slashed through the air with us flying down the streets. As we turned off the residential road and onto the street leading into the center of town, I saw two vans pull up beside us. Keif was driving one of them.

"Those bastards are coming from all over!" He called out as the back of his van opened and I saw bullets whiz out. His load of troops were trying to keep them at bay.

"What do you reckon we do?!" I called out.

"I saw a bunch of them heading for the shipyard! Something is there that Zelena desperately wants!" The Assassin in the shotgun seat called out as Zar took a sharp left turn. Sending us into a drift, us and the other vans followed behind as Zar called out.

"Then that's where we're headed!" He said as we sped past Granny's Diner.

* * *

As the truck screeched to a halt just outside the boathouse, the two vans opened up and six Assassins from each van poured out with their hoods raised and rifles raised.

"Go, go, go!" Keif called as he got out with his shotgun drawn.

I jumped out of the truck's canopy as Zar got out. Keif then pulled out an M4 from the van's cab and passed it to me.

"Let's get her." He said, determinedly.

I nodded, pulling back on the lever. "Zar, stay here and wait for backup. Jason and a couple others should be on their way."

He gave me the thumbs up as I saw the yellow bug pulling up along with David's pickup. Him, Emma, Regina and Snow got out of their cars.

"I said no guns!" Emma snarled at me.

"Arrest us later, Savior!" Keif shot back. "We have a Witch to take down, and no one's stopping us!" He headed in with Emma right behind.

I groaned and sprinted in beside Regina and David. As we headed through the boathouse, I saw Hnery crawling away from a winged monkey that was lunging for him. Emma pulled out her own handgun and shot it point blank, the monkey dissolving into ashes. Another jumped for the boy, but David tossed his sword right at it.

Regina summoned a fireball into her hand. "I never liked pets." She sneered, throwing the fireball at another monkey.

The whole boathouse seemed to be swarming with them. I pointed at several of them as a couple Assassins came up behind me.

"Incoming! Fire!" I called out.

The monkey was down in seconds and was left to ashes. After he was done we coordinated fire at every one that flew right in from the open end of the boathouse. When the rest were gone, Emma ran for her son.

"Henry!" She said. "Are you okay?"

Her son got up, looking more confused than relieved. "Yeah! Y- what were those things?!" He exclaimed. He looked at David and then us. "And why does he have a sword? And them, guns?"

Emma placed a hand on her son's shoulder as she took the book out. "It's all gonna make sense in a minute, I promise."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry I was keeping secrets from you. You were right." She handed the book to him. "You deserve to know the truth."

Henry looked down at the book with even more confusion. "About fairy tales?" He said with a hint of mocking. "I don't understand."

Emma looked at her son, uneasily. "Do you trust me?"

Henry looked back up at her, and then nodded. "Yes, of course I do."

"Then I need you to believe."

"Believe in what?" Henry said, his belief just about to return.

"Believe in magic."

She held out the book for him, but Henry was still so confused, he was practically laughing. "From a book?!"

"It's more than just a book. Do you believe in me?" She asked.

Henry looked solemnly at his mother for a few seconds before saying "Yes".

He took the book, and suddenly, he looked up, his eyes lighting up with a familiar pulse of magic rushing through the air. The rush of memories going back into his head.

He looked up at Emma, then Regina. "Mom!" He cried. "I remember!"

Regina smiled as she ran for her son and embraced him. As he cried over and over how his memories had come back, Regina let go of him and looked to Emma.

"Do it, Emma." She said. "Break the curse."

Emma nodded and took Henry. She was about to kiss him, but suddenly he vanished.

"So sorry to interrupt."

I drew the rifle and advanced forwards, aiming it at Zelena, who stood before us, with Henry in her grasp.

"Now, who wants to say goodbye first?"

"Let the kid go, Zelena!" I snapped.

"Who are you?!" Henry exclaimed at her.

She smiled, evilly. "You can call me Auntie Zelena."

Regina gnashed her teeth. "Enough of this!" She said, raising her hands.

Zelena only pushed her hand forwards, tossing Regina back.

"Assassins! With me!" I called out.

"No! Don't shoot!" Emma exclaimed. "Let him go! He had nothing to do with this."

"Don't blame me." Zelena replied. "The Captain failed me."

Wait excuse me?

"Damn you, Zelena." He growled.

"Hook what's he talking about?" Emma questioned.

"He knew the price of that of that failure was: your son's life!" She held onto Henry's throat tightly as I started forwards slowly.

"Don't think I won't take the shot, Zelena!" I snapped.

"I know you won't, Assassin!" She shot back. "If you shoot, Henry dies. 'Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent!'"

"_And I did! I stayed my _blade _from the flesh of an innocent!" _A voice from long ago said. It terrified me in that moment. Was I about to make the decision that would turn me down the same path Ryan took?

I saw Shay suddenly appear beside her. "Uh oh! Henry's in trouble and the solution is right in front of you! Decisions, decisions! You can shoot both of them now and end Zelena's tyranny, forever branded a traitor to the Creed and yer hood stripped away, or yah can lower the rifle and let someone off yer list go, betrayin' everythin' that yah swore in memory of yer sisters!"

Emma didn't give me a chance to make the choice. She summoned her magic and cast down a ray of light, forcing Zelena to let go of him. She screeched as the light burned her grip on him. As soon as she let go of him, Henry ran for his mother. Then I open fired. Zelena deflected every shot and even sent one right back into my shin. I gasped as I fell to the ground.

"NO!" She screamed. "Enjoy this moment together! Because you don't have many left!"

The bitch waved her hand and vanished in green smoke.

"DAMMIT!" I yelled. "Let me at her!" I ran for where she was, even though I knew that she was long gone.

Jason came running up behind me. He grabbed me on the shoulder "Don't Asgeir. You'll get your chance on her later."

I noticed Henry down on Regina, trying to wake her. "Mom! Mom! Please! Wake up! Mom!"

She started to stir before getting up and smiling at her boy. "Henry!" She whispered. She got up and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Henry!"

I saw something that I was astounded to see. Regina, the Evil Queen herself, hugging a young boy with true happiness. I never thought I'd live to see such a day. Never, and yet there it was right before me as clear as ice.

She pulled away and placed her hands on his cheeks. "I will never let you go away again." She promised, smiling. "I love you, Henry."

She pulled in and kissed his brow. I didn't feel the whole effects of it, but there was no mistaking the pulse of more memories flooding back into the cursed heads of everyone that lived here. The Second Curse was broken. The rest of them looked around and rejoiced as their memories returned.

I understood as Emma said it. "It wasn't me. It was you!" She said to Regina.

She looked at her parents. "Mary Margaret! David! Did it work? Do you remember the missing year?"

Snow nodded. "Yes. Everything."

"How did Zelena cast the Curse?" She asked.

Snow shook her head. "She didn't, Emma. We did."

Another thing I never thought I'd see the day of: Snow and David casting such a spell with such a high price.

"Wait, hold on." I said. "You cursed yourselves?"

"Zelena's weakness is light magic." Snow explained. "I mean, it's clear now, more than ever, you are the only one who can defeat her."

"It's why we paid the price of Regina's curse." David said. "To find you."

Emma looked uncertainly at her parents. "The price of the curse is the heart of the thing you love most. If one of you cast it… how are you both still here?"

On that thought, I focused and my Sight kicked in. I saw David and Mary Margaret, but their hearts looked strange. They looked smaller than most. And the shape of them looked broken. Almost as if….

"One of them broke their heart in half!" I exclaimed. "Amazing!"

I slammed my foot onto the ground in surprise. I never knew such a thing could be done and yet here they stood, two people with half a heart each, still alive and kicking.

* * *

Jason and I started back to the vans as Zar was passing the paper to one of the Assassins.

"Take this back to the Bunker, Torren." He said. "I'll see you there." He looked up at us. "What the hell happened in there? I'm waiting outside for backup and now we got our memories back?"

"Regina broke the Curse." Jason said. "We know now what it'll take to defeat Zelena. It's Emma."

"Well, of bloody course it is." I said as I handed Keif the rifle back. He got into his van along with the other Assassins getting ready to head back out onto patrols.

"So what's the plan now?" Zar asked.

"Zelena's made her biggest move in the last few weeks by threatening the boy. That doesn't happen again, not on our watch." Jason said. "We need every one of us focused on taking her down as soon as possible. I'm headed back to Cormac's to regroup with the rest of us. This ends soon enough, one way or another."

Jason called over to Keif. "I'm headed back to the Bunker." He said as he climbed into the van. Keif nodded as he started the engine and backed away, then turning back onto the road and heading back towards town.

"Asgeir?"

I looked behind me. The boy, Henry was looking up at me, almost as if he was meeting a personal hero of his.

"Henry, right?" I asked. "A pleasure." I held out my hand for him to shake.

Henry took it with amazement. "It's an honor. You're an amazing warrior."

Regina came up behind him with a small smirk. "I figured he would want to talk to you when he got his memories back." She said.

"What the hell does he mean?" I asked, confused. "How does he know me; am I in that book of his?"

Henry grinned, dumbstruck as he took out his book. He opened it and turned to page 272 in the book, then handing it to me.

The painting of the book was very well done as it captured just how the Templars saw me. It was a picture looking up towards the night sky in the woods from the point of view of a fire pit surrounded by Black Knights. They were looking up at the sky in fear of what was lunging down at them. White hooded and furious, with half of my face looking normal, and the other half, the shadows making my face look like a skull, I had my blade extended as I was jumping down on them.

"The book made you out to be a villain, Asgeir." Henry said. "But you always seemed to be a good person in my eyes. Mom didn't really see it like that."

I looked up from the book. "Go figure."

Regina smirked. "If there was any story I didn't want my son reading aside from Emma's it was yours, Asgeir."

I looked back down to read what was on this one page. As I read, there was little wonder why she wouldn't want her son to read this.

* * *

_ "__They say that he came from a faraway kingdom across the sea." One of the Black Knights said to his companions as they warmed themselves by their fire._

_ "__Ah, there's plenty they say about him, and half of it is all a load of sod. Last week Maurice was saying that he is the god Hades in human form, and we all know how superstitious that idiot is." Another said. "The point is that he is a savage that has spent the last few years slashing his way towards our fair Queen with his blades. He is a traitor to the Crown if he is protecting Snow White."_

_None of the Black Knights could bother to even notice that the White Reaper of Arendelle, Asgeir Swortssen was perched above them on the large boulder they were using for shelter for their campsite. He breathed slowly as he prepared himself for what came, and then extended his blade._

_ "__LAAAADE!" He cried in his kingdom's native language as he fell on top of the Black Knight bringing his blade down on his throat. The other Knights went for their swords, but the Reaper only stood up and flicked both his wrists in their directions, the blades shooting out of his bracers on their ropes, and into one's throat, and the other's leg. The one who was hit in the neck died almost instantly, choking on his blood as the Assassin retracted his blade, but the other one knelt down into the dirt as his attacker approached._

_ "__Where is Regina?" He snarled under his hood as he held a pistol to his face. "Tell me where she is!"_

_ "__You want information? Go talk to one of your scouts!"_

_ "__Try again!" He replied as he shoved the gun into his eye socket._

_ "__No, wait! She's moving North on Snow White's camp! She's throwing all her strength at taking her down!"_

_ "__Thank you!" The Reaper smiled as he pulled the trigger._

* * *

I closed the book after reading one page. Whoever wrote this clearly didn't think highly of me, even if all of this was true on what I did, showing how ruthless and savage I had become whilst fighting Regina.

"Are you sure that it's me that you show admiration for, Henry?" I asked. "All that is true in that book."

"I know." He replied. "But you're friends with David and Snow. You must have had a good reason why you did those things. Where did you come from, anyways? The book only started mentioning you around the time you met Red Riding Hood."

"I came from a kingdom called A…" I began. I stopped and then shook my head at the boy. "It doesn't matter anymore, Henry. Where I come from is a kingdom that has been dead for a long time."

"Oh." Henry said simply, getting the message.

Zar flipped up the door of the back of my pickup. "Alright, Asgeir. What's next?"

"All the teams are regrouping at Cormac's as we speak, which means that Snow and David are unprotected." I glanced at Henry. "Mind if we tag along, boy?"

Henry grinned. "Awesome!"

"What's awesome?"

Emma was just walking up to her son. She gave him a small hug as he explained.

"Asgeir and Zar are wanting to help protect us against the Witch."

Emma frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Emma, you're going to need some level of help." Zar said. "All the rest of us are regrouping at the pub and you need someone to cover you."

"Zar." I said. "Allow me." I gestured for Emma and I to step aside and we walked back into the boathouse where no one else was.

"What is with you, Asgeir?" She asked with a mix of anger and concern. "I've had more than my fair share of trying to take down Cormac's gun running business for the last two years because of their unethical methods and vigilante justice. Then I hear that you come into town because you are apparently meant to help out. Since then you've withheld information that could have saved Neil's life, blown up Zelena farmhouse, and whatever else that gave the Assassins reason to kick you out of their circle."

"Nothing you've said isn't true, Swan." I replied. "But here's one thing you don't know about me." I took out my lighter and pack of cigarettes. "This may be personal for you, but not as much as it is for me. I've seen too much shit go down where the ones who make the real sacrifices end up getting stepped on like an ant. I saw what it was like for Cora when she was a Miller's Daughter, and much more in the eyes of one of the worst Templars in history. But nothing compares to what I have felt. Your love died in your arms, but my whole family was slaughtered in front of me, and I have to live with the guilt that they are all dead because I hesitated. Zelena didn't do it, but she did turn an Assassin who I am proud to have known into one of her flying monkeys. To chain an Assassin up is one of the worst things that a person can do to an Assassin, and I want to hurt her for it. You need to understand that. I'm not someone who came here to fix your mess. All I am left is a cursed man with nothing left to live for except the memory of his dead family, and the burning will for vengeance. Don't try to support it, but at least accept it. I need this."

I lit a cigarette and took a long drag. Emma had been watching me and appeared to listen. She took a few seconds, and then spoke up. "Your brotherhood is made up of a bunch of outlaws and criminals. Laws and rules don't mean anything to the Assassins in the little time that I have known about them. But if you let me do what should be done about Zelena in the right way, then I will at least accept some degree of justice for you. The condition is that you start thinking before shooting."

"Agreed. Now, about keeping your parents safe…"

* * *

Henry wanted to visit Neil's grave, as it was the first time he would have seen it since recovering his memories, knowing Neil for the brave man that he was. Zar and I stood by my truck in the parking lot as he gave his moment of respect to his dead father.

"Hey." I said to Zar as we sat in the bed. "You were gonna say something to me before the monkeys crashed the party. What were you saying?"

"Oh right!" Zar laughed a bit before going back to serious. "You're right about Ingrid, Asgeir. She has done things that no Assassin should, or in your case, _could_ ever forgive. She's worse than any Templar any of us have faced before because… well, she's…"

"Lost her fucking mind." I finished.

"Right." He chuckled a little more. "I don't think you hate Zelena as much as you think now, Asgeir. You're angrier at the fact how you're so close to the one who killed Anna and Elsa, and you can't even touch her yet. It kills you how much you've waited for this chance for vengeance, waiting a few more weeks would be ironically even harder than waiting for the last thirty years. But here's the thing: Us Assassins, we don't kill people because we want to. All these people that we hunt and kill, we do it to protect them." He pointed to Snow, David, Emma and Henry. "You tell me that Cora fused Norik's memories into your head? Then you know something that all of us know about your grandfather. Every Assassin in Arendelle who ever bothered to hit the books knows that he spent two whole years hunting down Xavier because he killed his future father in law, Winch. He eventually decided that he was killing him not to satisfy his personal bloodlust, but because he had seen too much injustice from his hands, and needed to stop him in the same way that a wound needs to be cleaned from infection. When your chance finally comes, and you are given the chance to finally kill Ingrid, don't do it because she killed your family. Do it because she killed two innocent girls, two brave Assassins, and her own sister. That's five too many souls lost by her hands."

I shook my head, looking down at the blades on my wrists. That evil bitch noticed her niece and nephew asking questions about why she suddenly came up from out of the blue, and to her that meant that they needed to be punished. I was cursed because I tried to protect them. All I was doing was what anyone would do to protect their family, and look where it got me. Soon enough there would be another war after Zelena would be done. One where chaos would rage through this town, and the whole of it would be covered in ice and snow with one monster being faced down by a small army of warriors in white hoodies.

"Winter is Coming…" I murmured.

"Yes it is." Zar said.

Suddenly, we heard a cry out. We both looked up and saw Snow. She was keeling over with the pain that we were hoping wasn't coming today. Zar and I jumped out of the bed of the truck.

"Is that what I think it is?" I called out as we ran for her. Emma and Henry started helping her towards the truck.

"Yep!" She gasped. "It's the baby! It's coming!"

Zar glanced at me. "Scratch that. Winter's come early!"


	24. Chapter 24: Kansas

**A/N: How are we all doing here? Good? Good. So things happened on the special 2 hours episode last night, and surprisingly, I was kind of underwhelmed. I mean, it's interesting to see why Emma has done all this stuff, but I can't help but feel like there is a darker side of her that wants to use Excaliber for evil like we have thought all along, and I'm kind of disappointed so far this season. Merida, however is great. I never saw Brave, (Don't kill me! There's plenty of movies we all haven't seen! I have a whole list!) but her plotline was great. I am, however, going to change something with Red so that she can stay longer instead of leave Storybrooke when Ingrid is about to attack.**

**I now realize how big this is since we're reaching the last 2 chapters of this Sequence, leaving Sequence 3 to start up furiously. The next chapter after this will be more like a series of smaller chapters, explaining some of the little things about Asgeir I never got a chance to dive into. Then afterwards, the season finale chapter will be posted. I'll see you soon!**

* * *

Chapter 24: Kansas

Zar held on tightly to his seatbelt as I practically yelled into my radio as my truck, David's, and Emma's yellow bug flew down the street.

"All Assassins, this is Reaper! Repeat! This is a Priority Alert to all Assassins! The Fourth is incoming! All Assassins mobilize and take their positions at the hospital, just like we planned. And get the big guns! We have a baby to protect!"

When we turned onto the main road, four of the white vans came up behind us. Two split apart before taking the front of the convoy, and the other two remained in the back. We would not pull any punches this time, and make sure that Zelena would finally go down by the end of today.

"Heard you needed help back here, Reaper." I heard Keif's voice on the radio.

"Did you guys manage to get the heavy guns out, Hammer?" Zar said through his radio.

On que, one of the vans in front opened it's back and an Assassin in heavy ballistic armor with the red Assassin insignia crudely spray painted on the front, and mask hefted up a minigun and waved at us.

Zar and I just sat there, dumbstruck. RPGs, LMGs, and all kinds of other heavy hardware, and this was the first time I had ever seen a minigun in this town.

"Yeah, that'll do." Zar said simply through his radio.

* * *

The convoy screeched to a halt outside the hospital. Zar and I jumped out as David called for a doctor to help his wife. The minigunner jumped out along with three other Assassins and six from the other van. Immediately four of them started climbing up the hospital's wall to get into sniping position on the roof as the two rear vans pulled up with more Assassins filing out. The minigunner and the five others filed in behind Snow and David as Zar and I headed in, too, the sound of her screams in pain echoing through the corridor.

"The rest of Cormac's are on their way now as we speak, Asgeir." Keif said. "No one is getting past us or the Merry Men."

"Good. Let's just hope our toys are enough to delay Zelena, if not stop her completely." I said as I loaded the grenade launcher on my rifle.

Frankenstein was waiting for us. He knelt down and offered his hand to Snow as she was getting wheeled towards him. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Nurse!"

Snow groaned loudly in pain.

"Yes Doctor?"

"A little help here."

He led David and Snow down the hallways to the delivery room.

"Any Assassins carrying weapons here are requested to keep their distance and their safeties on when it's convenient." He said to us. "I was informed you're here to protect Ms. Blanchard, so do it with as little casualties as you can."

"Yes, Doctor." Zar said.

When they reached the deliver room, I directed two Assassins to the door for guard duty.

"Keep your rifles loaded and triggerfingers itchy." I said.

"Yes, Asgeir."

* * *

"We have six snipers on the roof, two each stationed here, here, and here, every entrance to the building with at least two Assassins or Merry Man covering it."

Jason and I were going over a map we had on the table in the waiting room close by.

"Good. Hey, who's that minigunner, and where is he right now?"

"Oh, that's Torren. You know, the Novice in Project Boden. He's tasked with patrolling the halls along with some of the other big gun Assassins to make sure that Zelena won't reach this floor."

"Wait, really?" I asked. "You're giving our biggest gun to that kid?"

"Kid's better than you might expect with that gun. Just wait."

Torren then walked in with his minigun and sat down near the table. He pried off his visor, gasping a little for air and nodded to us.

"Hey, Jason. Asgeir."

I just stood there, looking at him. Torren never seemed like a weak kid, but he also didn't seem to me to be the type to be able to carry such a bloody big gun. He was a few inches shorter than me, about Anna's age, and had longish brown hair that just barely reached his shoulders. In a way, the only thing that came to mind when I looked at him was "non-threatening".

I glanced at Jason and he only chuckled.

"C'mon." He said, slapping me on the shoulder. "Let's check up on them"

Jason and I headed into the room beside the delivery room where Emma and Regina had put up the protection spell. It was meant to only affect Zelena, so I only felt a chill as I walked in.

"How's she doing?" I asked Emma.

"She's alright. How many Assassins are on guard?"

"We have every hand at Cormac's playing their part in this. Snipers all over the roof, guards at every door, and a minigunner. We'll do everything in our power to stop Zelena from getting here."

"How the hell did you guys get a minigun into town?" Emma asked, sounding more curious than angry.

"We have our ways, Sheriff." Jason said. "Honestly, most of our guns were going to be sold anyways to other criminal gangs that don't share our ethics or code. They're in better hands with us."

"Swan."

I looked back and saw Hook standing over there. I still didn't understand what Zelena had meant by how she said that he had failed her, but I didn't seem to be all that upset by it.

"I heard the little royal was on his way." He said.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here right now." She said, frowning.

Hook approached her slowly. "I wanna help." He said.

"If you really wanted to help, you would have told me when Zelena cursed your lips."

I walked off to the side along with Jason; clearly knowing this wasn't my discussion. "Where are Matthew and the other Masters?"

"I never called Matthew, but the Keif said the rest of them were setting up a big checkpoint down at the parking lot. Anyone going in or out of this hospital is going to have to go past us for now"

"I'm right here."

Jason and I looked up. Matthew was walking right into the waiting room, but when he noticed Emma and Hook, he beckoned for us to come out into the hallway. Torren was just walking past, pulling his visor back on, getting ready to do another sweep of the whole floor.

"I was wondering why you were calling all the hands at Cormac's to start swarming the hospital and turning this into an occupation mission. Now I get it."

"What do you want, Matthew?" Jason snapped.

Matthew glanced at me; a little surprised at the attitude he was receiving from his two best students. I was somewhat pissed that he had the nerve to act surprised considering he had given no real effort to speak to me or even acknowledge me in the last few weeks ever since he voted against me getting my hood back.

"What do I want? A little gratitude would be nice. The whole parking lot and building is barricaded with our troops and we're risking a lot of our time and effort to make sure this baby doesn't end up in that Witch's hands. I could have given you boys half of what you're using for this operation."

I said nothing. Matthew wasn't worth any words anymore, in my eyes. Emma and Hook suddenly walked out of the waiting room.

"Asgeir. We're taking the fight to Zelena. Are you coming?"

I shook my head. "Someone needs to stay here and have this place locked down tight. It's better than going out there."

I'll admit it. It was more that I was afraid now, taking Emma, Zar, and Jason's words to mind. I had become unpredictable, even to me in so many ways, who knows what I would do if I faced Zelena yet another time? No, I would wait for her to come to me and make it easier to drive one of my Bullets through her eyes or a blade through her throat.

Emma shrugged. "Fine. We can take Zelena ourselves." She and Hook started down the hallway.

Jason raised his hand. "Hold on, Sheriff." He slung his rifle over his shoulder. "I've never missed a shot in my life. I'll come with you and a few novices."

Emma nodded. "Alright, Aaron. C'mon."

As Jason walked past, I tapped him on the shoulder. Reaching into my pocket I grabbed three of the Bullets and slipped them into his hand. "Use them well." I whispered to him.

Jason looked down at them strangely, but nodded, seemingly understanding as he walked out with Emma. He didn't know what they were, but he probably had any idea how to use them and what they would do.

Matthew gave me a look. "What'd you give him?" He asked.

I said nothing. I only glared at him as I walked back into the waiting room.

* * *

Almost an hour passed. Assassins and Merry Men alike walked around the hospital with their guns and bows. We had turned the place into an occupied area in less than an hour, and it wasn't going as smoothly as we had hoped. Doctors and nurses gave me, Zar, and every other Assassin angry looks as we waited at our command table in the waiting room a few doors down from the delivery room. I checked in with the sniper lookouts over the comms that regularly gave their status: Zelena hadn't come yet, but we knew she would.

During one of his breaks in between patrol, I sat down beside Torren. He had just grabbed a cup of coffee from the vending machines downstairs and was now taking a few minutes to enjoy it.

"Where do you come from, Torren?" I asked him, realizing I had seen quite a bit of him throughout my stay here, and never once really spoke to him.

"Oh, the far south of the Enchanted Forest. I had both parents when I was younger, but when they became too poor for me, they just packed up and left me behind. I don't know where they are now, but I don't really care all that much. I became a professional pickpocket in my town and soon after, Keaton our Mentor, recruited me into the Brotherhood. A chance to finally have a real family that cared for me, he said. That was six months before the Curse was cast. I swore to myself these past years that I make a name for myself as best I could like you have, Asgeir. Before they recruited me, I had heard legends of you, The White Reaper. I just never figured that the one that all people of every walk of life feared was actually someone that fought for the same justice that now I fight for." He took a drink of his coffee. "You were a hero for people of the criminal underworld and even some of the smallfolk throughout the kingdoms. It wasn't the deaths of those by your hands that inspired us, but rather how you showed some of us to be not afraid of the Templars. After all, they are only people, and we can be more."

"ALERT! ALL ASSASSINS!" I heard over my radio. "HARPY REPORTING! PRIMARY TARGET SPOTTED AT THE NORTH SIDE ENTRANCE! REPEAT, ZELENA IS HERE!"

I pulled out my revolver, snapped it open and emptied the chamber, shells spilling out and clattering to the floor below my chair. Then I loaded three Bullets into it before shutting it and getting up. Torren gave me a nod as he lowered his visor and hefted his minigun up.

"This is it." I could barely hear him say as we walked out.

I raised my hood as we walked down to the main hallway. Zelena looked smug as she held up the Dagger, and Rumplestiltskin pushed me back. I noticed that he was limping as I fell to the ground. I realized Jason must have used a shot on him.

"SURRENDER, ZELENA!" Torren yelled, clearly referencing the movie as he pulled the trigger. The barrels whirred and spun, a torrent of bullets spraying down the hallway. But Zelena only smirked and held up her hand.

"What can an Assassin novice do to me?" She mocked as the bullets froze in midair. My mouth hung open as I looked up from the ground and saw her force the bullets right back. Most of them hit Torren and he fell to the ground, groaning. The rest of them hit me on the ground, but no wounds were present once every bullet had passed.

"Glad the armour did it's job." I heard him say before passing out.

I struggled to get up and held up my gun, pulling back the hammer. "I've had enough of you!" I groaned, the pain of being held down magically boiling my blood.

"As have I, Asgeir." Zelena gloated. "You told me you were part of a brotherhood of proud warriors, but you're nothing but a bunch of outlaws with explosive tempers and too much tolerance for collateral damage. Finish him off, Rumplestiltskin."

She waved the Dagger towards me, and Rumplestiltskin jumped on top of me, snarling like a rabid dog. I managed to kick him off and extended the blade on my left hand, and twirled my gun in my right hand.

"Let's finish this, you old fucker!" I growled.

"My pleasure!" He replied as he jumped for me.

Both of us knew that neither of us could really kill the other with the magic that cursed us, but I don't think we cared. We both just wanted to hurt the one who had caused us so much pain. How he broke my sister's innocence and helped Ingrid somehow, and how I nearly killed his son but then "corrupted" him into an Assassin. He swiped his arm towards me but I ducked down and kicked him in the knees. Falling down onto the ground he tried using his magic to force me away, but this time I was ready and rolled right over him, kicking his backside and forcing him face first onto the linoleum floor. When he tried getting up, I shot my Rope Blade right close to his face and placed my foot onto the back of his neck.

"Go on!'" He cried as I stood above him. "Cross another name off your list! It won't matter! I've gotten on everyone's good side in this town! They'll say that I acted under Zelena's influence with the Dagger instead of pure evil! They'll all hate you if you kill me!"

I pulled out and spun the chamber on my revolver, causing the "whiz" sound. "You're right, Dark One." I replied. "But I'm not going to kill you just yet. No, I still need to make you suffer as I have suffered."

I aimed for the back of his head, but then moved lower and shot him in the back of the knee. Rumplestiltskin cried out in pain as I turned and ran for the delivery room.

Zelena wasn't there. All I found was Snow wailing out as David tried to comfort her. My breath stopped once I realized what she was crying for. Another baby, taken from her immediately after it was born.

* * *

"He's gone." She whimpered. "It happened again."

Furiously, David pulled off his scrubs and grabbed his sword from beside the bed. He and I then stormed out of the room past Regina. Over and over again it seemed Zelena was able to anticipate every single one of our moves, and still she won even with her pathetic and foolish pursuits.

"Where are you going?" She asked us, following behind.

"To get my son back!" David growled.

"You gonna get yourself killed!" She replied. "David, think about this!"

"What's there to think about, Your Majesty?" I asked. "This has gone far enough! Who knows what will happen to us all if Zelena succeeds!"

"What's going on here?"

Emma and Hook just arrived, looking grim.

"What happened, did you find Zelena?" David asked, urgently.

"I-I did, but I couldn't stop her." Emma said.

"She took your brother."

"Because I failed?!" She said.

"We're all still here, so you haven't failed us yet." Hook said.

I noticed something, though. "But where's Jason?"

"He got hurt pretty badly when he fought against Zelena, mate." Hook said. "He's been taken over to the other wing. Sprained arm, most likely.

"C'mon." David said, grabbing his daughter's arm.

"No, wait." She protested. "Zelena took my magic."

"How the hell did that happen?!" Regina cried.

"Doesn't matter how, it just happened. So, we need to find another way to stop her."

"There is no other way." Regina said.

Not without killing her. And I still had plenty of Bullets left. But none of these people would approve of taking the necessary actions. It's what separated me from them.

"That's not true." Henry piped up. "You can do it."

Regina looked down at her adopted son, doubtfully. "Sweetheart, I don't think I can survive round three with my sister."

"Glinda was pretty specific: only the purveyor of the strongest light magic can defeat her."

Oh, so they went to that bitch, too? Wonder how that went down. I scoffed, but none of them took notice.

"Zelena only beat you because you were using dark magic against her." Henry said.

"But, it's all I have." Regina said.

Emma's eyes lit up in realization. "No, it's not. When you kissed Henry, that was true love's kiss. That's light magic."

Henry grinned at his adopted mother. "See? You can do it."

Regina still doubted herself. "Henry, I don't even have my heart right now."

"That doesn't matter. You broke the Curse without it, And I know you still love me. I know there's good in you."

Robin suddenly came up behind her. "He's right." He grinned devilishly at Regina. "I know you can beat that Witch."

"But I don't…"

She still would not believe until I hammered in the last nail in the coffin: her old beliefs. "With all due respect, Your Majesty." I said. "You told me you left behind all that bullshit Templar ideology when you gave me your ring. Now you're on the right side of this war. You will have to face her."

"Oh, and you forgot to mention how she's a traitor to her own kind by doin' so!" I heard Shay say, the pot calling the kettle black.

"Once upon a time, you were a villain, mom." Henry said. "But you've changed. You're a hero, now. And defeating bad guys is what heroes do. I believe in you, now you need to believe, too."

I turned behind and held up my radio. "We're not done here, people. Let's finish this!"

* * *

Keif and several other Assassins who were still able to fight started grabbing all they could as we got into three of the vans and started up again. Regina figured that the barn close to where Zelena's farmhouse used to be would be the exact spot she would try and cast her time spell.

I stood in the inside of the van as the Assassins inside sat on seats bolted to the walls on the inside of the van. It was dark inside except for the light that came from the front windows where Keif and a now awake Torren were in front.

"We all know the mission." I said out loud.

"Yes, Asgeir." One of the Assassins said. "Stop Zelena's time portal."

"With something else to make sure." I added. "We take her alive so that I can kill her!"

Keif slammed on the brake. "We're here! Go, go!"

The Assassin sitting in the back opened up the door and we filed out, a complete team of a dozen Assassins along with myself, Keif, Torren, David, Emma, Regina, Robin, and Hook.

Inside the barn, Zelena and Rumplestiltskin stood around the place where the portal would open. She seemed to have dug a miniature crop circle to cast her curse. Different colored smoke tufts rose from the ground, and I saw each of the four ingredients on the four compass points around it: Regina's heart, David's courage in the form of his broken sword, a golden brain to represent Rumpletstiltskin's wisdom, and the baby.

"One this all over, you won't remember a thing." Zelena was cackling.

"It isn't over, yet!" David said, boldly.

Zelena turned and grinned at all that stood before her. "Oh? And who's going to stop me?" She mocked. "Certainly not the Savior."

"A Reaper sure could." I snapped back. "Or perhaps the real Queen of magic?" I nodded to Regina as Keif and I started to strafe towards any of the ingredients we could reach. Even removing one of them would stop the whole thing.

Emma noticed her newborn brother and nodded to David. "Go, get him." She said, holding her gun at Zelena. "We got your back."

Zelena only chuckled as Regina started towards her.

"Zelena, stop now." She growled. "We're not gonna let you succeed."

"Rid me of those pests." Zelena cackled, waving the Dagger to send Rumplestiltskin after Emma and Regina. When she spotted Keif, and me, he lunged for David's courage, but she held her hand, forcing him backwards against the wall.

"Ah!" He groaned as he tried getting up. I noticed he was bleeding. 'That's where I got impaled by George! Old wounds! I am too old for this shit!"

Rumplestiltskin was now facing Emma and Hook.

"Please, no more water." Hook said as Rumplestiltskin started on him.

"Get the Dagger, then the Dark One will be on your side." He replied. He waved his hand forcing Emma's gun out of her hands. Zelena then noticed me starting towards the sword.

"Now then, Reaper."

"I saw potential with you, Zelena." I growled. "Did that not mean anything to you?!"

"Why would it?" She gloated. "I already went through one sisterhood. You all would have just turned your backs on me as well, because you wouldn't fix my problems. You only care about the 'greater good'." She forced her hand forwards, slamming me backwards into the wall.

Too much like her mother, the bitch. Shunning the Assassins because they wouldn't fix her own personal issues.

I felt my arm snap in half from the force when I hit the wall, but it fixed itself in two seconds. Getting up, I saw Hook and Emma go through the same thing. I started wondering if that was the only thing that pricks that used magic did whenever someone quite literally stood in their way.

Regina started towards Zelena again.

"Come for another beating, sis?"

"No!" She snapped back. Then she noticed Zelena's charm. "I came for some jewelry."

She reached for it, but even with a simple nod, Zelena still pushed her sister back. I pulled my air rifle on my back, remembering I still had a grenade left in it.

"Oh, ho!" Shay was beside Zelena, now. "Care to test out the genius of Benjamin Franklin on this bitch?"

"Precisely." I replied, quietly. I shot it towards her, and I seemed to have caught her off guard, because it blew her back a few feet. Unfortunately, the party was about to get a little bigger. A flying monkey was soon swooping in.

She looked up at it and grinned. "Beautiful one! Kill that one first, if you will!" She pointed at me.

The monkey snarled and screeched as it dove for me. But I remembered my instincts. I shot it point blank with my rifle's sleep dart, and it fell at my feet. But it didn't seem to be working, because the monkey only seemed to go disoriented for a moment before taking off again and smacking me in the face with it's claws before going for David and Robin.

"Remember!" Robin yelled out as he took aim with his crossbow. "These creatures are our friends!"

"Don't worry!" David said, as he twirled his sword. "I'll use a gentle touch."

"Unfortunately, that's not an option for me." Rumplestiltskin replied. He waved his hand and forced them back against the wall.

Zelena once again noticed her sister, and this time held her up in a Force Choke. "Only light magic can harm me!" She laughed. "And you're as dark as they come! It was your destiny to be this way! And it will also be your undoing!"

"Don't…tell me what I can- be!" Regina managed to say.

"I tried to be good once! But it wasn't in the cards. This is who I am!" Zelena sneered. "And it's who you are!"

She was distracted. Now was the time. I jumped forwards, everything slowing down to mere milliseconds. Diving into a tuck and roll, I saw Robin had snuck around and grabbed Regina's heart. It would be enough to stop the spell, but I wanted to be doubly sure that it would be prevented for good, and shoulder rolled right to the baby. I grabbed the basket and scooped him up.

"I got you, kid!" I whispered as Regina grinned.

"You're wrong, sis!" She said, mockingly. White light suddenly burst from her hands.

Zelena was in disbelief. "What are you doing?!" She cried.

Regina only grinned. "Changing."

The light from her hands shot forwards, slamming Zelena onto the ground. In an instant, the Dagger slipped out of her hands and onto the ground. She looked up at her sister in a mix of anger and denial.

"How?!" She cried as Robin aimed his crossbow down at her. David sprinted over to me and I handed him the basket that carried his new son.

"Here he is." I said. Then I pulled my revolver out, walked over and aimed it right at Zelena's head.

"I make my own destiny." Regina replied. She leaned downwards and ripped Zelena's pendant off her cloak. Green light rushed away from Zelena and she fell backwards even further, powerless. The smoke coming from the portal started to fade away before snuffing itself out. Even the monkey landed onto the ground and turned back into the bearded man I had last seen almost a month ago. But David almost took his head off as he swiped; only stopping himself once he realized the monkey was a man again.

"Little John, you're back!" Robin cried.

David dropped his sword and John ran for his best friend.

"David! The baby!" Emma called out. "Is he alright?"

David smiled as he looked down on his son. "Yeah. He can handle anything. Just like his big sister!" He stood up, glancing over at her.

Regina looked down at Zelena's pendant, which now was ceasing to glow, courtesy of being separated from it's mistress. "You failed." She gloated. She looked down at her. "You're not going anywhere."

"I beg to differ."

Suddenly, Zelena was getting dragged across the ground towards Rumplestiltskin, who was holding out his hand, ready for payback on her.

"I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to me!" He growled.

Not a chance. I wouldn't let that prick be the one to take away someone from my list. Zelena was mine!

She was at his feet in moments, looking up at him very fearfully. "What're you waiting for? Just do it!"

"With pleasure!"

"No!"

Rumplestilskin suddenly stopped, and his hand pulled away like it was attached to a string. Like a puppet, I should say. I turned and noticed Regina had the Dagger in her hands, and she now held it up, controlling him. Thank heaven.

Rumplestiltskin couldn't believe it. "After everything this witch has done, you're gonna protect her?" He snapped, angrily.

"Good magic stopped her. And good magic doesn't exact vengeance."

"Oh, I get it!" Shay said with his stupid grin. "She's gonna spare her, givin' you the chance to kill her yourself! What luck for you! Of course, I make my own luck."

"SHE KILLED MY SON!" Rumplestiltskin yelled.

"How many lives have we taken trying to get what we want?" She replied.

"You can't be serious."

"I am. Heroes don't kill."

"Oh, but sadly, Assassins do." Shay gloated. "I'd watch out for this one, Regina." He said to her, pointing at me. "He's gonna want to kill Zelena the first chance he gets." Then he stopped, and laughed. "Oh, dammit! I forgot! She can't hear me!"

"So, now you're a hero?" Zelena growled.

"Today I am."

* * *

Keif and a team of Assassins handcuffed Zelena and shoved her into the van. I got in and sat right across from her with my revolver at her, keeping quiet except for a slight grin. One down, and another to go.

Zelena only stared hard at me as the convoy headed back into town. As the old saying goes, a long walk and a short drop is the short version of how most people have their lives. Only in this case, that short drop was a drop off into a prison cell instead of into a grave. But it would be coming for Zelena shortly.

Regina had a talk with her as I waited in the interrogation room, and then when she left, I walked in. No one was around, which was what I was hoping for.

"Here we go! Time to make her pay for what she did to Rory and Neil." Shay snickered as I walked across the office towards the cell and took the seat across from it. Zelena was curled up into a ball in the corner of her cell on the cot. I smirked, remembering how familiar this looked, only it was Regina and not her sister.

"Here we are, Zed." I said. "Checkmate for you."

"Oh, here to gloat?"

"Why not? You loved to do it when you were winning against everyone else. Then you start losing and all you do is whine and fixate on all this bullshit of how the world is always wronging _you_ and how things _always_ turn out bad for _you_ and how no one knows _true suffering_ but _you_!" I stopped talking when I realized I was practically shouting. Then started again.

"It's useless, Zelena. All this pretending that you're the victim here. Truth be told, you disgust me. In every realm there are people that have no homes, no families, and countless things that threaten their lives. But you decided to fixate on someone who had no idea you existed. Then you, *_ahem* colored_ yourself the one who was wronged, then decided that you'd get even with her and steal it all back."

"Why take her side, Asgeir? She was a Templar and you an Assassin. You saw potential in me. You said it yourself: we're not that different." She started to look sad in my eyes. Almost pleading. But I wasn't falling for it.

I narrowed my eyes and laughed a little. Even I had to agree when I saw Shay was practically bawling with laughter in my head, falling backwards onto the floor. "Aha! See?! **_Now_** you look to me for support when it's too late for that; when all your magic is gone and no more of your flying, shit flinging lapdogs are around to help you. No, we weren't all that different. Once. Then you had one of my brothers turned into a monkey, killed another and turned your back on a second chance. That's where you're much like your mother in the sense that you can't see a real second chance when it's right in front of your stupid fucking face."

"What the hell do you know about my mother?"

"I know enough." I replied. "I know that she too, wanted another person's life. And that she was willing to do anything to do it. Including ripping out her own heart."

"She must have had a good reason to do so." She replied. "Why else would she do it?"

I smirked. "You know, the funny bit is that you're still every bit as stupid as I remember you from when we first met. Here you are saying things you really shouldn't…and I have the gun." I pulled it out of my hoodie. I had already loaded in the right shots for this, and now was my chance.

Zelena's smile burst and she got up, starting to back away from the cell. "You're-"

"Still going to fulfill my promise to Rory, and exact vengeance for Neil. I know that you don't have your pendant anymore, but I still put a full load of Bullets into this thing. And I am not bluffing when I say I'm going to kill you!"

"B-but! I'm powerless now! There's no point anymore! You'll just put me out of my misery!"

I started to laugh. My laugh grew louder and louder until I was laughing so hard I thought my head might explode. I pulled the hammer back on the gun and aimed right at Zelena towards her face.

"You know, I thought you would've learned your lesson by now, Zelena. Heroes don't kill, but I sure do." I said, still laughing. Then I started screaming. "STOP BEGGIN' FOR MERCY AND TAKE THIS LIKE YAH SHOULD HAVE LONG AGO! GO TO SLEEP! GO TO SLEEEEEEEP!"

I pulled the trigger back and shot five times in a row.

* * *

Zelena still stood where she was. When she opened her eyes, she looked at me in shock as I laughed more.

"Aha! I got you! Haha!" I hollered. "Whoo!" I sat back down.

"You…you-"

I did my best to hide it from Zelena, but I was terrified at what just happened right now. It wasn't me who pulled the trigger, but I also knew it wasn't Shay, because he couldn't control my mind. Only add memories to it.

"Blank shots, Zelena." I said. "Oh, I won't kill you just yet. I just thought I'd make it clear that you crossed the Dark One and are still alive. But no one gets past me, and even hope for mercy. You won't live past tomorrow, but I'll at least give you a lesson before you die. You squandered your second chances. I, on the other hand, took every chance I got towards helping those I could until fate sent me an Ice Devil to punish me for it. I don't sit down, pretending like I'm a victim like you did, and like she did. Instead, I'm going to stand up and shove a blade down her throat for what she did to my sisters, my brothers, and me. Then all will be right with my world again."

Zelena looked at me in a mix of horror and anger at me as I continued.

"Cora showed Snow her memories and why she abandoned you, and then she showed me memories that belonged to my grandfather. He knew her as a friend long ago when he sought vengeance for one of his murdered brothers. He offered her a chance to become an Assassin after she abandoned you, but she turned her back on him because all she really wanted was desires that made her another bloody Templar chasing butterflies. I offered you the chance to be a part of a family that would never abandon you like how Glinda did, and you chose to spit in my eye. You think that you haven't gotten a second chance? You had one. And another. And another. And every time, you shoved them away, fixating on changing the past. You are way too much like your mother. Glad to see that now the apple falls very far from the tree on Regina's side."

I got up. "Look where it all got you, Zed. It really sickens me." I said, walking away.

"You know that they won't kill me, Asgeir. Either you do it before they catch you, or I will kill you when I get out of here."

"Oh, I know. And I will kill you, Zelena. I promise you that." I replied. "I just don't feel like doing it today. It's been a long day, and I could use a pick me up."

* * *

The town seemed to be a little brighter as I walked from the Sheriff's station to Cormac's. But it didn't entirely feel like it. Walking past Mr. Gold's, I couldn't help but look across the street, to the store there, Any Given Sundae. Ingrid was in there. Soon enough she would know real pain and suffering when I would be done with her.

When I reached Cormac's, most of the other Assassins were in there, celebrating. I walked up to the bar and waved for Kevan.

"Pint of Guinness." I said to him.

Jason and Zar walked over and sat down on either sides of me. I noticed Jason's arm was wrapped in bandages from his sprain. If only I could share some of my curse with him. It would be that much harder for him to make his shots count with his right hand out of commission. "We did it, Asgeir! Zelena's done for!"

"Yeah…" I sighed, smiling solemnly.

It was haunting me how both spirits that were haunting me had taken over all at once when I had Zelena in my grasp. I had loaded those blanks myself to scare her, but it was not me truly in control of my actions back there.

"Hey, Asgeir." Zar said, shaking my shoulder. "Now's not the time to be solemn! Now's the time to celebrate! You just missed him, but Keaton just returned! He's catching up with his recruits and Matthew right now in the other room. Let's party now, man!"

I heard the door slam.

"Party for what?"

I looked up from the bar. The source of the voice had just walked into the door. He looked quite disheveled from how I remembered him long ago but he still had the buzz cut blonde hair, a white and green hood, and a spear holstered to his back.

"I believe I heard yah sayin' somethin' about partyin'? This 'bout me getting' free of that witch after so long?"

"Rory…"

He grinned as he caught my eye. "I wasn't in control of my actions as a monkey, but I remembered yah the second I saw yah a few weeks ago, Asgeir!"

He and I jumped for each other in an brotherly hug. I should have remembered that all of Zelena's monkey would have returned to their human forms after her pendant was ripped off. Or rather, I remembered Little John, but was convinced all along that Rory ended up dead when he was a monkey.

He and I sat down at a table as Jason and Zar approached.

"Asgeir, who is this?" Zar asked.

"Rory Woods." He introduced himself, shaking both their hands. "Master Assassin from Dublin. Although, to be fair, I'm assumin' they think I'm dead?"

I nodded. "Officially declared deceased by your Mentor, who also died about ten years afterwards."

Rory shook his head as he slammed his fist down. "Ah, dammit." He tried fighting a few tears. "Terry was a good Mentor, one of the best. Almost as good as yer father, Asgeir."

Kevan walked up and nodded to Rory. "What're we having today, sir?"

"Listen, my friend. I've been flinging my own shite and picking fleas out of my fur for the last forty years. But I would love nothing more than at least 'free pints of Guiness," He raised three fingers "and- wait how Irish is this pub?"

"You'd think we were right in Dublin, Woods." Jason said.

"Aha! Excellent! And your pub stew! Thank yah, lad!"

I sat back in my seat, grinning. Another brave Assassin barck in the fight. Things might actually bode well for once. I had never seen someone so merry and glad to be alive in a long time. You'd think turning back from a monkey into a human would mean that Rory would be exhausted, but I soon learned that I knew very little from him in the time that I knew him. He had more energy than Anna would have after drinking a whole pot of coffee. When he finished with his beers and stew, he ate three whole slices of chocolate Irish cream pie and was still hungry, happy that he could finally eat what he had been missing for forty years. Although I loved it when Kevan brought him the third pie with a banana slice as the garnish, and he looked up at him, unimpressed.

It also turned out that he was an excellent player of his tin whistle. He brought it out after he had quite a few drinks and he still played a couple melodies as merry and true as the Emerald Isle. He even sang a little towards the end of the night.

_"In Dublin's fair city/ where the girls are so pretty/ I first set my eyes on Sweet Molly Malone/ As she wheeled her wheelbarrow/ through the streets broad and narrow/ crying 'Cockles and mussels/ alive, alive o'"_


	25. Chapter 25: Then

**A/N: You guys want to know something big? I don't know if anyone noticed, but a week ago from Saturday a few days ago, this fic turned a whole year old, and we're still not done here! I'm amazed at the support I've gotten from this, and want to give a big thank you to all those who follow this fic or me. I don't just do this fic because it's what I like doing, but because of you, my readers! I am so excited with only one chapter left in the Oz arc after this one.**

**I'm currently working on a smaller fic with the Frye Twins that I am hoping to release and finish within the coming month, and as such, I am going to be taking a small break from Faith so that I can get it done after I post the final chapter for Sequence 2. Sort of like a small holiday for Christmas and New Year's.**

**Now on to the chapter. This one serves as a small series of one shots of things that have happened to Asgeir both before he met his sisters, and after Ingrid froze Arendelle. It's meant as a way to show people of how Asgeir now thinks because of how much pain he has gone through because of Ingrid. A lot of what he learned from his brothers at arms, and Elsa and Anna was contradicted by Ingrid and what she did to him, that he has had to abandon a lot of his beliefs. Each of the one-shots here show a little something that he took for his beliefs, what they had meant to him, and what they mean to him now.**

**And homework for people who read this. With Sequence 3 starting up, there are a couple things that you will need to see to understand some things. I ask who reads this to read my other fic, Blood Runs Cold, watch a walkthrough of Assassin's Creed: Rogue, and finally, check out the amazing mobile survival horror game Year Walk. They are all important pieces of fiction and gaming that guided me towards doing this crossover.**

* * *

Chapter 25: Then

_December 21__st__ 2011_

I'd never forget both Solstices, and always mark them appropriately. To me, they were more than just the shortest and longest days of the year. They were Elsa and Anna's birthdays. Eevry Solstice since Ingrid killed them, they became days of living agonizing hell for me, but I always took a moment to myself to light a candle and set it afloat wherever I was.

It was Elsa's birthday, so that night I decided against trying to get warm by the fire and instead say my prayers to them down by the river.

The bundle I carried had all I used every time I set a candle afloat. Every time it was the same except for the candle. It changed with either sister. If it was the Summer Solstice, I would light a pink candle for Anna. The Winter Solstice, a blue one for Elsa.

I sat down on the rocks by the river and took a moment for myself. The river was always a slow mover in this spot. Downstream they would turn into torrents of rapids that only got worse with the winter. And British Columbia was facing one of it's coldest in years. I couldn't help but cry at the thought of that. Elsa was more than a queen of her people. She was a Queen of Ice, the harsh and unforgiving cold obeying her at every turn ever since she learned how to control her magic. She couldn't live without the cold, but clearly the cold could live without her. And from what I could feel from it, it felt it was better off without her if it could think.

I got up and walked towards the river's edge. It was iced over a little ways from the shore, but I didn't care. I had survived impalement, my neck getting sliced, getting shot countless times, and whatever else the Templars could throw at me. It wasn't when they were trying to kill me when they actually did. It was when I was tortured by some of them that they completely shattered my spirit, if Ingrid hadn't done that already to me. Falling into an iced over river was the last thing I expected to kill me.

When I reached the water at the ice's edge, I knelt down and opened up the bundle. A small bowl to keep the candle burning and afloat, and the blue candle itself. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I felt my eyes sting with tears. Then I took out my lighter and lit the candle, placing it into the bowl.

"I have a confession to make, Elsa. One that I know wouldn't have surprised you because I'm sure the same can be said for you to me: between the two of you, I cared for Anna more than I did you. She meant so much to me because she had a bubbly sense of blissful innocence I never saw in anyone else. That in mind, it doesn't mean I didn't like you. I never understood even after all these years why you didn't trust me when I saved our sister from those Templars in the night, and then the Gemini Twins. What did it take for you to accept me as a brother? Maybe if you were still alive, we could have truly patched things up after I protected you both from Ryan. ]"

I pushed the bowl out towards the water. "So much has happened these last couple decades, and so much more since my exile, and if I ever leave, too much will happen. I doubt I will ever escape The Gates, but if I do, I will do whatever it takes to kill Ingrid. I have lived for far too long in the pain and suffering that she put me through, and I would give anything to make her feel it before killing her. I don't think I will ever survive my final confrontation with her, though. In fact, I mean not to. I have nothing left to really live for, and if you saw the things I did, it would be enough to make you understand that I am not fit to live on this earth anymore with no family left to care for, and no brothers left to fight alongside. Everyone I ever loved has either died or abandoned me. So why should I live after Ingrid will die? After she dies, my mission will be complete. The torch won't be able to pass onto anyone else, since Arendelle's brotherhood is all gone, and it's prodigal son is ready to die."

I pulled out the envelope from the package that I received mysteriously only two weeks ago at my door, instructing me to open on this day, and I quote: "After you have released the candle". This sender knew of my custom, which scared me, but I guessed correctly who sent this.

Taking my knife, I slit the envelope open and unfolded the contents. Two papers came out, but I knew that one of them was meant to be read first judging by what the other one said. It appeared to be a list of actions to follow.

"Well, Elsa. Someone at least remembers me, instead of caring for me enough to get me out of here. Time to find out what this says."

* * *

_Master Asgeir_

_You remember who we are and what we stand for. We are an inner circle of Assassins that only a handful of the Brotherhood know, operating in the shadows within the shadows. You would have thought that your mission in the Rebellion several years before your exile would be done, but it is far from over. Your part to play begun long ago, and is still long from being finished._

_You must know that we have not forgotten you, nor do we intend to let Bill Miles keep you here for eternity. You will be released when the time is right. Until then, you need to know the truth that has been hidden from you by your father, Daniel Swortssen, and your Mentor, Matthew Lund. The truth that we only gave you a small taste of the first time we met you. It is time for you to learn everything that was hidden unjustly from you and the Arendelle branch._

_There is an ancient magic custom that had died out over a hundred years ago, yet is still possible to perform under the right circumstances. Practiced in Ancient Scandinavia, it is know as the Year Walk. The Year Walk was an act that the Norse practiced often on notable holidays, for it was believed that a successful walk could give the participant visions of the future. We have been studying the signs for a long time and have seen what is to happen. The next Year Walk in over a hundred years is about to become possible again, and only one will be able to take it. We would like you to take it, because the Curse that afflicts you will help you in the Year Walk, and in doing so, your eyes will be opened to the truth. The grounds that you stand on in The Gates are ancient and potent enough that we know the Year Walk will have to be preformed there._

_In the package that we have sent you along with this letter, you will find all you need on the Year Walk and how you will have to perform the practice. When New Year's Eve comes, you will take the Year Walk, and see what you should have been shown long ago. You may not see the future, but you may see what you were meant to, and something else of a future that could have been if fate had been crueler._

_We wish you luck in the Year Walk, Asgeir. And leave you to know that you are not as alone as you believe yourself to be._

_The Masters._

* * *

A Year Walk? Now that right there was something I hadn't heard of in a long time. I couldn't even remember when I last heard of it, or how. All I did remember from the little I had read or seen, it was a dead Norse practice, and what it was called. Some of the Ancient Swedes even called it the Vision Quest.

I would have then headed back to the cabin by then, but instead I just sat down on the edge of the ice. It cracked a few times under my weight, but I still didn't care. Instead, all I really could think about was the first of many wars I took part in. The mountains and forest of British Columbia reminded me too much of the Enchanted Forest and what I saw from it during the War against Regina. Times change so much. Things were different before I knew my sisters, and even worse after Arendlle froze. I was still an Assassin back then, but I was something else. I was a knight in a white hood.

* * *

**During "The Cricket Game"**

Over a whole year of fighting her and George furiously as a soldier in Snow and David's army, and it only took us two hours to find Regina and capture her a few nights ago. George, however, was never found. By the Assassins or the soldiers. He just seemed to vanish off the face of this world.

I stood outside the cell watching her curled up in a ball on the cot of her cell. She was holding something small in her hand, turning it over in her fingers.

"Can I get a minute with her?" I asked he guards.

They nodded and stepped out as I opened the cell door and closed it before locking it behind me. Then I sat down on the chair across from her.

"You know, there's worse places you could have been locked up, I will admit. At least you got four walls and a roof. I've been chained to dungeon walls covered in my own blood and no food at all. Sometimes that was even under your orders."

Regina made no noise as she sat up and glared hard at me.

"You should consider yourself really lucky. Snow and Charming are both taking their damn time to decide if you're not being executed or exiled. If it were up to me, you'd have been with your mother the second you got in here."

Regina sniffed a little. It almost looked like she had been crying. "So what's stopping you right now, Reaper?" She managed to get out.

I held out my hands to show her, and even held open the front of my hood. "You see any weapons on me? The jailer had them confiscated from me exactly for that reason. Plus, even if I had a knife in my boot, I'm not here to kill you. No, I'm actually here for two things, and you're gonna give them to me."

"Oh really?" Regina smirked a little. The she jumped up and lunged for me, but the chain she was locked up in tethered her to a bracket on the wall. "And why would I do that? I've always hated your kind, even before I became a Templar. Did you know that one of you gave me this?!" She fingered the scar on her lip. "Assassins know nothing but ruthlessness, same as Templars. But at least we can stand in the light and face our enemies, unlike you cowards. So tell me why I should give you anything besides death?!"

I didn't even blink. I knew very well that an Assassin disobeyed his orders and tried killing Regina long before she became a Templar, but he was executed for this; for tarnishing his ethics by not ending her suffering, and deciding to try and kill her instead of Cora, the Templar that actually mattered. "Come on, Queenie." I replied. "You're gonna be here for either a few more days or what will be left of your life. You might as well."

Regina sat back down on the cot and growled. I leaned back in my seat and put my hands behind my head.

"First thing. I'm going to ask you a question and all I want is the answer. Now, there are some things I understand here, Regina. Why you and I are fighting, and why George and I were fighting in this war. You're Templars, and I'm an Assassin. I think my kind and yours are destined to do this forever. We may never face conflict resolution, but it won't matter to us because all we care about is what happens with us in what little time we have on this Earth. And you? You chose to spend your time by joining an Order of control freaks, and chasing after an innocent girl."

"_Pft_."

"You say something?"

"Oh, me? Well, maybe I did let something slip out. I mean, after all. What you just said was just a big lie."

"Alright then" I said in slight surprise. I never thought she would start to spill the beans this easily. "Now we're making progress. Care to elaborate? You don't think Snow is innocent, so that's my question: Why do you hate her so much?"

Regina scowled at first, but then smiled a little. "I was in love, once. That's how these stories usually start, right? But he was a commoner, and my mother would not have it. I have half a mind to believe that it was her that manipulated everything that happened in my life that led to me meeting the girl. She was on a frightened horse that was galloping out of control and would have died if I had not have saved her. As a reward for saving his daughter, King Leopold offered me his hand in marriage. But I did not love him." She sadly looked down at the small object she was holding tightly in her hand. "I wanted to run away with my real love, but unfortunately the girl caught us in the act. And then, despite my clear instructions towards her, she still blurted out the secret. To my mother, no less. And then when I was about to leave with my love, Daniel, she killed him…" She started sobbing, then angrily looked up at me. "I should have let her die on that horse."

I sat there, somewhat stunned. Behind every evil Templar, there's an even more evil story. A lesson I would learn many times over.

"Daniel, huh? My father's name was Daniel, but I doubt he's the same one. My mother and her Templar shite husband chopped off his head. Who was he? A miller? A blacksmith?"

"No." She replied. "Just a stable boy."

My mouth dropped open, but then I nodded solemnly. "I understand."

"Understand what? That my mother was a horrible woman for killing him? She was more than horrible. He was innocent! SHE PULLED OUT AND CRUSHED HIS HEART!"

I shook my head. "He was the furthest thing from innocent, Regina."

"How would you know?"

"Because he was the Other Daniel."

Regina stopped. She stared and looked at me with wonder. Everything in this world always seemed to connect to our eternal war, and all this time I never knew that the man a Templar mourned was someone on the other side of the coin.

"My father raised me from an early age to know of the Assassins and their struggles. I was very young, but he still taught me what little I could understand from the earliest age. And I was quite smart for my young age. I remembered meeting some of his contacts that visited from all kinds of realms, but the one man who I saw once and never ended up seeing again, I would always remember as the Other Daniel. Think about it, Regina. Why else would Cora have killed a young man like that in cold blood aside from furthering you up the ladder of power? She was desperate to prevent him from 'poisoning' you with his ideals and beliefs, so she killed the only Assassin who had decided he would rather spend his life making peace than killing Templars. Your true love was an Assassin, Regina." I got up and started for the door. "And you belittle his memory by wearing that Red Cross as your symbol. I hope you're proud of yourself."

I opened the cell door and called for the guards. When they came back in they locked the cell door. Regina called for me at her cot.

"And the other thing? You said you were here for another thing?"

"Well, I _was_ going to also take your Templar ring to add to my chain, but then I realize there's no point to it. You made your choice, so now you're just going to have to live with it until they execute you, or I kill you when they exile you." I spat loudly at the door. "May the Father of Understanding forgive your failure."

* * *

When I was younger, my father taught me that all life is meaningful. The good, and the bad. It can't be taken for granted, and there should always be room for mercy. Learning to forgive, but never forget is one of the hardest lessons ever. Too many of us even confuse one for the other.

Father was a wise man, but there was one thing that he died too early to learn. Life is cruel and cold blooded. Not one person outside your family cares about you, and most of them will stop at nothing to hurt you and those you hold dear. That's why mercy is worthless and will almost always come back to haunt you. If you don't kill someone, without hesitation, who wishes death on you as well, then you might as well turn the blade onto yourself. I hate to say it was her that taught me it, but Ingrid _was_ the one who taught me that. Because she was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I'm a monster that has lost any mercy because of her.

* * *

**10 years before the Eternal Winter**

I never was someone who really liked magic. Even as a kid I was raised to know that anything that was worth doing with magic could be done just as well with your own hands. Sure, people with magic can do all sorts of things that most can't, but it's worth it to walk or run instead of fly around magically. "Laziness" is the word that comes to mind. Very rarely has magic ever gone well for me. That's the irony of it all, considering one of my oldest friends was a fairy, and my sister was the Ice Queen.

Most fairies hate our way of life. They don't understand how we can be so violent, and inflict so much pain on other people, yet still call ourselves "protectors" of this world. The Blue Fairy hates us the most, as I have come to know, and the feeling is very much mutual. To see her stand above all the fairies and say that all of them must obey her rules or suffer is hard enough, and the key of many reasons why I began hating her.

At fourteen, I had taken the ranking of a Veteran Assassin, spending most of my time working small jobs for the brotherhood. We were on the run most of our time and our branch was always moving from place to place. I often wondered why we could still call ourselves the "Arendelle Branch" when it would be considered lucky if we could even stay in Arendelle for more than a week

"It was once the safest kingdom for Assassins, Asgeir." Matthew told me. "It's now become a shadow of it's former self underneath Agdar and Gerda and their Templar friends. But we shouldn't forget ourselves in where we used to serve. As long as Arendelle still stands, we will cease to call ourselves 'Nomads'."

I often thought about all Matthew said about how we were going to fix the branch one day on my first hunting trip. Almost every job or mission I went on, I went working with another Assassin from another branch. But this time, I asked that I be let go, into the wilderness of the Enchanted Forest for my own time. Having proved myself to Matthew enough times ever since I took my hood, he agreed so long I return within a week.

This was my third night alone, and it had been a long couple of days to start off. I had yet to learn just how ruthless King George truly was, and yet I was right in the middle of his own kingdom. I had no idea of the dangers, but I would soon enough. However, this night in all my days of pain and misery, was one where I instead met someone who would become one of my oldest friends.

Walking through the dense forests in the darkness, I came across a lonely pond. I sat down at the edge of it as I saw the full moon that night reflect off the surface into my eyes, like a giant illuminated golden baseball.

I often took each chance I got when I was at this age to talk to my father. Just in general, really. He had been dead for eight years by this time, and I felt lost afterwards. Matthew was nowhere near as wise as my father, often finding difficulty in trying to explain and teach the Creed to other people. He found his footing as Mentor, but everyone that was part of the Branch knew that Daniel was the one who knew the Creed better than any Mentor in a long time. Almost everyone who was part of the Brotherhood when my father was Mentor were now dead, with only Matthew and Keif left. Kevan was another elder Assassin that worked with my father before he died, but he moved branches to the Enchanted Forest one under Keaton. Even now I wonder if it was all part of his plan, my father's, to eventually install me as the Mentor one day when I was ready. Every generation in my family that I knew of were Assassins, and it was safe for me to assume that most of them became Mentor to whatever branch they were a part of. But Matthew never showed me the signs that it was what he wanted me to take up. He only showed concern of making sure the Branch was safe and secure from the Templars, only focusing on the present instead of keeping a safe plan for the future.

"Hello, father." I began, thinking hard as I spoke. Even I wasn't sure what I was going to ask out of him this time. "I know it's been a while but there's things that keep bugging me. We have responsibilities to the people of this realm, and yet I find us spending more time killing small time Templars instead of maybe trying to take down Agdar. We could save those girls that you told me are my sisters from being poisoned into Templars, because the last thing I want to do is kill the only blood family I have left. But I may have to if they make that choice. I just wish you had left behind the answers for me, like how Altair wrote the Codex for future generations. How we can fix this fractured branch and bring it back into what it used to be for the Arendelle Assassins."

There was no sound aside from a small breeze of wind. I sighed as I placed my face into my hands, and spoke more, feebly hoping I would get some answer.

"I just don't get it sometimes, Father. I'm asked to obey Matthew and whoever orders me without question, yet Nothing is True. And I cannot go after whoever I choose or hate, yet Everything is Permitted. What can the Creed really mean if we break it with most actions we make?"

"Feeling lost?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I leapt up and extended my blades. I looked fearfully at the girl who sat on the rock in front of me. She smirked a little mischievously at me as she spoke. She had curly blonde hair tied back, and a sparkly green leotard.

"I feel lost as well sometimes." She said, an accent present in her voice. "I want to do good with the magic that I hold, yet Blue always says that I need to listen to her and always obey." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "All her rules are so boring. Spending our days wasting away instead of helping mortals."

"You're…you're…" The words caught in my mouth.

She giggled. "I'm Tinkerbell."

"A f-fairy?"

I had never met one before, but many older Assassins told me everything they could of that they hate our kind. Or more specifically, they hate Assassins and Templars alike. I never understood why, but I always thought it was because Blue thought that her power over light magic gave her the right to judge us. I still believe that.

Tinkerbell got up and looked closer at me. "You know, Blue warned me never to approach one of you. Said you'd rip my wings off and steal all my dust. But I've always been curious as to what the deal is with your kind. Assassin."

I kept my blades extended. I'll admit it, I was bluffing on looking to kill her, considering I was also in a state of wonder at seeing her. My instinct told me that all fairies hated us because Blue hated us, but Tinkerbell seemed different. She was badmouthing her, and she seemed just as curious about me as I was of her.

I retracted my blades. "Unimpressed?"

Tinkerbell smirked. "Kinda. Yeah."

* * *

I brought Tinkerbell back to my camp. Only my small tent and a cook fire were there, but she and I still talked while I kept the fire going.

"Humans interest me. Why, they can't all be bad. And I often think of how life is for mortals. It must be very different."

I poked at the fire pit with my sword. "No, you're right. It is different. None of us can fly, or shrink, or do anything aside from kill everyone who comes across our path. Or, I'm assuming that it's what you heard from Blue."

She nodded. "Why does she hate Assassins? Is it how you kill people?"

I glared, but more towards Blue than Tinkerbell. "The men and women that we kill are monsters. Templars, who want to control the world and snap chains onto every thing that breaths, or ever will. But your teacher can't see that. She only sees people who do the worst crimes imaginable killing nobles."

"But I saw you. Killing people is wrong, but you're still a person like everyone else in this world." She said. "But why is it that you do it?"

I looked off as I thought of what I would say. It all came to me through what I had learned in all this time. "Too many people want to take the freedom of others in this world. And even more will gladly give it up. People that know of our Brotherhood say that we made the choice to do what we do, but I don't ever remember making that choice. I knew when my time came that I had to take the hood to honor my father, who laid his life down to save mine and several others'. So when the time came for me to make the choice to take the hood, I took it for countless reasons, but one enormous one: If I didn't do it, who would?"

Tinkerbell nodded. "I think I understand it. Blue doesn't want to even try and get to know humans. I guess she thinks they're inferior to us, or something. But I don't think we should judge. What is it that people say: You're only human?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Tinkerbell."

"Oh, call me Tink. And you are?"

"Asgeir. Asgeir Swortssen of Arendelle."

* * *

Tink was right all along. Even with how personal I made things with the Templars, building rage against them and the other monsters that hurt me and those I cared for, I still did what I did because I had to. Because I hold a responsibility to this world. If I don't kill Ingrid, this world will die until she gets whatever she wanted when she was trying to kill Anna and me. If she is here in Storybrooke, then she has found something else.

* * *

**9 Years Before the Eternal Winter**

I heard that Altair became a Master Assassin by the time he was sixteen. After Matthew and the other elders promoted me at fifteen, I swore to one day do everything in my power to become one of the "greats" if that didn't do it already. But how can you uphold a promise when you have no idea where to start? All I seemed to do was kill people I was told were "high ranking Templars". Yet, I've learned that Templars consider their numbers to be much more expendable than we do. For every man I killed, another that seemed even worse than him took his place. Sometimes there comes an Assassin that brings us out of the pit that the last long line of fools buried us into, and other times the rest of us feel that no matter what we do, the Templars have too thick of skin. For the first half of my life before I met the girls, I was having my time of doubt. Not in the cause, but the strength of it. Unless we took real action towards the Templars, we may never win the war.

Six months before Rory and I first met, I was on another manhunt for a high-ranking Templar. Troy said that there was another slave driver in deep with King George, and could know some of his secrets. I was in a tree just outside his mansion, scoping out the guard situation. A five-foot tall fence, and two guard towers that gave a clear shot for every guard on the property. Easy.

I pulled off my air rifle and snapped a clip of beserk darts in. I had done something like this before and it worked every time.

When the guard on the closest tower had his back turned towards the tree I was in, I dropped down from it, rushed over to the fence and vaulted over the fence. When I was down in the tall grass, I made my move. I aimed carefully and shot the guard up in the tower with the berserk dart. The guard grabbed his head between his hands and screamed violently for a second, but then he got together his bearings and drew his crossbow. He aimed low and fired right at his guards, as I knew he would. The poison never failed.

It took a minute for the rest of the guards to realize what was happening. Despite the alarm bells present for situations like these, the guards decided instead to take out their own bows and try and take down their sharpshooter. However, he was much quicker than them, and was able to take down another handful of them before the poison got to him, and his heart gave out. He fell right in the tall grass beside me. As the remaining guards went back to their patrols, I checked the guard's body for anything useful, thankfully finding three more sleep darts to use for my rifle.

A window was wide open into the mansion within running distance from, but I just needed a distraction for the rest of the guards. Carefully moving through the thick grass, I saw the other tower on the other side of the plot of land, and took a clean shot for him. Like the one before him, the guard clutched his head and writhed in agony before regaining his focus, and succumbing to the poison's effects of making him think everyone within range was a target. I was just climbing up into the window by the time he was about to shoot the next guard.

I could feel that most of the guards were outside, and that the head Templar was right in the room at the end of the hallway. Seeing him through the walls, he was at the window looking out at the chaos in the yard below. I wasn't going to waste any time. I needed to get him immediately.

I sprinted right down the hallway and smashed the door in, pulling out one of my flintlocks.

"On the ground, Templar!"

He didn't turn for me, but slowly raised his hands, still standing. "You made a grave error, Assassin."

"I said _get down_!"

"You know, what fascinates me the most about your kind, is the Sense that most of you wield. Do you know what kind of power that can be used for? And instead you don't hone it strong enough to realize when a room is laced with the newest development in sleep gas."

"…what?" I said, starting to feel dizzy.

He turned around and put his hands down, smirking. "You really should have learned by now that actions by your kind don't go unnoticed. Instead, we endure them, and adapt as we always have. Then we take a pair of sharp tweezers and find the thorns in our side. My Master will be pleased to know I just captured the son of Daniel Swortssen. You-"

He was still speaking, but I couldn't make it out as the room around me got darker and started drifting away.

* * *

"This is the son of Swortssen? This pathetic excuse for a Novice, much less a Master Asssassin?! Wake up!"

I just barely heard this, and not two seconds later, I felt a heavy fist nail me right in the nose. I winced as I forced my eyes to open up, and looked around.

I was in a tower cell with windows behind both the one who punched me, and the one who was speaking, as well as four guards split in two on either side of the cell. The speaker was dressed in a red velvet doublet with a familiar coat of arms on it: Seven blue roses above a red chevron with a blue lion below it: The Eastern Reach. He was a balding man, the little hair he had left so gray it was almost white. And despite how pleased he clearly was, he was still scowling at me. The torturer was the typical brute of a man with a black hood covering most of his face with the exception of his cold, angry eyes.

"I must say, Son of Swortssen I am unimpressed." The older man said. "Your father killed hundreds of my soldiers, and many of my close brothers. Long have I hated the craven, so it gave me great pleasure to know King Agdar of Arendelle took him down and executed him right in the town square. But that victory was short lived, because history has been repeating itself for the last six years with his bastard son, also the son of Agdar's wife Queen Gerda, only this time it was much easier to catch you."

I chuckled. "You know, the feeling is very much mutual, King George." I knew very well who this was, even though I hadn't seen any photos of him before. "I'm unimpressed as well. Here I thought the Templar hated by many Assassins, but feared by less was someone, I don't know, a little less old and geezer-like."

The torturer took another punch at me, but I only laughed when I tasted blood. He had a black hood covering his face, with only a hole for his cold, dead eyes. His dark green canvas apron on his front was splattered with blood, and it looked to me from this that I was not his first victim today. So many would cower at the sight of him, but even after taking in all of his appearance, I laughed even more.

"You don't seem to understand how dire your situation is, Assassin. I have captured you and have you down ready to die, and yet, you laugh as thought this means nothing to you." King George sneered.

"No!" I replied. "I laugh because it means everything to me! Because it means that I now have a face to the Templar that I will eventually kill, accomplishing what my father did not! And then I will do the same to Agdar!"

The hooded man kept punching me as I felt the sweet copper taste fill my mouth, blood dripping down my face. I only grinned as I looked up at him. "If punching me repeatedly is going to make you feel better, than by all means, continue. Although, if you could please get my right cheek. I got an itch there!" I chuckled.

I knew I had every skill at my disposal to break out of my bindings and take as many of these fools down as I could, but I wanted to take a smarter approach, and see what it would take to make George let his guard down even further.

"Arrogant bastard." George growled. "Your kind is filled with nothing but explosive anarchists and idealists. We Templars know the world for what it really is-"

A sudden cloud of smoke exploded in the cell as two dark shadows slipped in through the windows on my right, and took down the guards by the windows.

"You know, I always knew that Templars are foolish, but I didn't think our nemesis as stupid as this. Taking a brother of ours!" I heard a voice in the smoke.

I couldn't see anything, and started to focus my sight when I felt an arm grab me from behind and force me into a standing position as a knife got jabbed towards my throat. I gagged as I tried for another breath.

The smoke cleared in a few seconds, and the two other guards lunged for the white hooded figures as they whipped out their flintlocks and unloaded on them both. They lowered their hoods and eyed both George, and me. George had me by the throat from behind, holding the knife at my throat as a hostage.

"They _all_ are stupid, brother." The other said to the first.

The first was tall with spiked up brown hair and a small stubble around his cheeks, a smug grin present on his face as he had his hatchet raised, as though he was ready to toss it right at George into his skull.

The other was a few inches shorter than the other, had messy blonde hair, and was clean-shaven, but also had a grin present on his face with his bow aimed at George.

The Broken Chain Brothers, Troy and Rabbit.

I smirked along with them. "Oh, George. You think I'm bad?" I gloated. "You don't know these guys."

"Please stop beating Asgeir. He's only got that pretty face left, really." Rabbit laughed.

Troy glanced back at his brother. "So, we agreed I got George?"

"What're you talking 'bout? I got the bastard like we agreed."

"When did we ever agree on that?"

The interrogator, who I was worried about as I saw the brothers argue, started advancing on them, but Rabbit let an arrow loose right into his neck, and he fell to the ground right in front of Troy.

"See?" Rabbit said. "How can you top that?"

"As I'm the older, bro, I insist that-"

"HOW DARE YOU?!" George thundered.

Both brothers looked back at George, mildly shocked at the volume of his voice.

"You intrude on my moment about to kill your brother at arms, and you stand here bickering in front of me saying who gets to kill me, as though it's some kind of contest!"

Rabbit shrugged. "Well, it kinda is…"

"SILENCE!" George shouted back as he jabbed me by the throat with the knife. "I will kill him right here if you both do not drop your weapons, Assassins!"

Troy grinned. "Oh, you don't think either of us have a shot?"

"Either one of us will take the shot if it please us, Your Majesty."

"Guys, don't!" I shouted. "Don't take the-"

"Hey! Lemme focus, Asgeir!" Rabbit snapped.

"Enough!" George spat. "None of you will get the chance. I mean, who the hell do you think you traitors are?"

Rabbit lowered his bow a little. "Did I just hear that right?"

Troy nodded. "I think you did. Son of a bitch just asked who we are!"

"Oh!" I groaned. Those guys were both the funniest and most annoying members of the branch. They treated our war like some kind of game sometimes, but there was no denying that they were two of the branch's best fighters.

"We art the Broken Chain Brothers, King George!" Troy shouted, as though reciting some dramatic passage of Shakespeare. "Raised in the salt mines of thine shitpit of a kingdom, we were broken free as young boys by Daniel Swortssen, and along with our brother who thou hide behind with a knife in thou hand like the knave thine art, we have sworn to break the chains off every man, woman, and child under your boot until we take you down once and for all!"

George loosened his grip on me a little, realizing who they were. "You bastards! You are the ones who are ruining all the slave runnings in my kingdom!"

Troy bowed his head. "At your service, Your Majesty!"

"And you brought all this on yourself, dear King George! Our parents were killed by Templars under your contract!" Rabbit sneered.

"Sons to a murdered father and mother, and we will take our revenge! From the Creed's heart, we stab at thee!"

This was my chance. When the brothers cried out and charged for George, I flung my head forwards, then slammed it backwards, right into his face. I closed my eyes when the force of impact shook me, and I felt something cold and sharp slide just under my eyes and across my nose. I felt dizzy with the pain, but this was no time to be shaken. Both brothers were grabbing for George, but one thing they always proved to me was that their loyalty always trumped their desire for vengeance. They saw the blood rushing down out of the wound on my face, and Troy grabbed me by the shoulder just as Rabbit headbutted George, breaking his nose. Then they both helped me to the window.

"C'mon, Asgeir!" Rabbit called out. "We gotta leap for it!"

I just managed to nod, and leapt (or really fell out the window if I'm being honest) out the window to the screams of the eagle and the wind.

After climbing out the pile of mulch, I started feeling really dizzy, but Rabbit grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Stay with us, man!" He called out as I felt the blood drain from my face even further, down my nose. Most of the lower half of my face was caked in the stuff from the beating I took from the hooded interrogator, but too much of it was coming from the deep slash now present on my face. The rest of it went in a blur. I know I was conscious the whole time, but I just cannot remember anything happening for the life of me after Rabbit yelled for me again. I could hear the bells of the castle courtyard ringing as we rushed for the exit, Troy leading the way with his crossbow out.

* * *

The next thing I knew, Rabbit was sitting me down on a stump, checking out the cut on my face. Troy was off to the side, keeping watch.

"We should use the beans to get back to Matthew. He isn't going to be happy we let this happen."

"The prodigal son is still alive, isn't he? We're going to be okay."

"Have you seen what George did to his face? It's a miracle he's still alive from all that blood loss. I can only just hear his heart beating."

I looked up at Rabbit. "What happened?" I mumbled.

"We just barely escaped them, Asgeir." He explained. "We got you out of there, but George has almost sliced your face in half."

He looked back at Troy. "I'm shit at making stitches, Troy. We need to get him to Kevan. He can help us."

Troy looked around hard. "I don't see anymore of George's knights. Ok, let's get out the beans and get him to Kevan."

* * *

Ever since we escaped Arendelle when I was six years old, our base for the branch was a small camp a few kilometers west of Sherwood Forest, where Robin and the Merry Men branch worked. Troy and Rabbit spent very little time here except when incidents like these occurred. And despite how good they were as Assassins, things like these happened with them too many times. While they both were kind and caring for people under the boots of Templars, it was their passion to free slaves that proved to be their weakness often. Troy was always the one to quickly jump into action and try to free everyone without really thinking, and even Rabbit proved to be reckless a few times, even though he tended to be the voice of reason for the two of them. But despite all their difficulties and devil may care attitudes towards how they handled things, they were accepted by our branch for several reasons, the biggest being that they never violated the Creed, and always put honor and loyalty above all else. They even said a lot of the time how they drew inspiration for their efforts and strategies out of the pages of legends like Adéwale and the Frye Twins.

Kevan was waiting for us at his tent, and he was furious when he saw the sight of me.

"This is what happens when you don't listen to my advice, boys!" He snapped as he sat me down and got out his supplies. "What the hell were you three even doing to end up going against King George?!"

"Asgeir was hunting down one of George's head Templar slave runners when we passed information onto him, and we wanted to help." Rabbit explained. "But when we got there, they were dragging his unconscious body out and taking him to King George. We followed and agreed we needed to intervene and get him out of there when we heard George was interrogating."

"And he is dead?" Kevan said as he sat down in front of me with his kit.

I shook my head. "No." I wheezed. "Not dead."

"Getting Asgeir out of there was more important than killing George, Kevan." Troy said. "We'll get another chance to take him down."

He looked up at the brothers, but nodded. "You two surprise me. Even impress me sometimes, you know." He said. "And here I thought you would jump at the chance to kill George, even if it meant sacrificing Asgeir." He looked at me. "I'm going to give you a shot, Asgeir. You're going to feel a pinch, and unfortunately, it's going to leave a scar. But you're still alive, so that's something."

Before he jabbed the needle in my arm, I held up my right hand to Kevan without ssying anything, showing how little I cared about having the scar on my face. My right hand had two burn marks, both to show what I am to the world: the burn on my ring finger when I was inducted as a Master, and the diagonal slash across the back of my hand, the Bastard's Brand Agdar gave me when he left me in the woods to die.

* * *

I wasn't left behind much in terms of books or instructions on what the Creed meant by my father. I had to take what it meant to me from everything that happened around me, and almost everything that I learned from my brothers was contradicted when Ingrid killed Troy, Rabbit, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff. The brothers showed me that they could look past personal vendettas to really help those that they cared for, the priority being protect the innocent, not punish the guilty. But look what it got them: dead at the hands of the worst demon Arendelle ever saw. She will wish that she had never touched the face of the Earth when I am done with her, and that she hadn't have killed all the wrong people in her efforts to achieve her "perfect family". There is no more mercy anymore. In order to survive, it means sinking to their level and doing the bad things, no matter what others think. That's all that matters.


	26. Chapter 26: Now

**A/N: This chapter was so long I had to split it into two parts beacuse my internet wouldn't let it. Hey, Hollywood is doing it all the time! I see no harm in it! (Sarcasm)**

Chapter 26:Now

**During "Dreamy"**

Several months passed after the event with Red and the clan of werewolves, and finding the cabin that Snow was now staying at. Both Red and I passed by as much as we could, and Snow was learning quickly from the little archery lessons I had given her. She was getting good enough that we both decided that I didn't need to teach her anymore, and I began to only stop by as little as once, maybe twice every month. Although the liberation of responsibilities on the people I cared for was taking it's toll on me; every passing month made me feel more and more aimless, like a true Nomad Assassin. With Arendelle in a frozen ruin, the Templars were once again the might of the realm, the other Assassins and I finding it harder and harder to hide from George and Regina. Even with David's deal to give us the information we needed to know the inner workings of his "father's" kingdom, it wasn't as helpful as we wanted. Having a prince as our inside man was nowhere near as good as having a whole kingdom back us with the support from it's queen and princess.

The Cracked Lute was where I found myself going to often when I felt myself losing my way in this war. Assassins had ran it for generations, and we got little jobs from the modest bureau run there.

I had just received another job from them. When they saw my hood and I ordered my ale, I found the job written at the bottom of my flagon. Two hundred gold pieces for torching a Templar operated plantation and killing everyone working there that faithfully serving the Red Cross.

I sat there thinking over the job as I heard the loud chortlings and chatter of the patrons. Most of them were dwarves, as the Lute was on a plot of land close to a dwarven diamond mine. Say what you will about dwarves, but one thing that even I admit with absolutely no deniability, is that no Assassin weapon can match the magical strength of a dwarf's pickaxe.

I suddenly heard a voice among the patrons from a lifetime ago. "It's not in his head. It's in his heart."

I turned and looked back. Belle. The same woman who had last had seen me facing off against Ingrid, and who I ended up leaving alone on that mountain pass with every fear in the world. She was talking with a few of the dwarves a few tables away. It amazed me that she even found her way home after everything.

"You're in love." She said to one of them.

The other one scoffed. "Oh, that's impossible." He said, chuckling. "Dwarves _can't_ fall in love."

Belle only smiled. "Trust me." She said. "I know love, and you are in it."

The skeptic one got up and went back to the other dwarves as the lovestruck one got up and sat down with Belle.

"What's it like?" He asked her.

"It's the most wonderful and amazing thing in this world." She said, grinning as anyone who had someone they cared for, would. "Love is hope. It fuels our dreams." She looked precautious at the dwarf. "And if you're in it, you need to enjoy it. Because love doesn't always last forever."

I got up and walked over. "Take a page from her book, mate. She knows what she's talking about." I stood beside him.

Belle looked up at me in shock and surprise, but without any words; She had thought I was dead this whole time. The dwarf looked up at me from his seat, then at her, with more questions. He didn't seem to notice how shook Belle was.

"But if love's so great, then why do I feel so bad right now?"

"Because you need to be with the person you love." She explained.

I never had really been in love with any one girl, but I had my share of a few nights with them. I felt sick at the fact that I had to get close to a few lovesick Templar women just so I could get close enough to slit their throats and take their lives.

"What, you never heard the term 'lovesick', mate?" I asked him.

"No." He replied. "Besides, how do I know she feels the same way? All she talked about was going to see some fireflies, not loving me."

Oh, Jaysus. Like you have to spell everything out for these dwarves. It's astonishingly stupid.

Belle looked at the dwarf inquisitively. "What- what did she tell you about these fireflies?"

He thought for a second. "Uh, that she was going to see them on the hilltop tonight. That she heard they were the most beautiful sight in all the land."

Both Belle and I only chuckled at how clueless he was. As I said, I have never really felt what it's like to love a woman, but even I know an invitation for a romantic setting when I see one.

The dwarf however, was even more confused. "What?" He asked us.

"Oh, bother." I sighed, smirking. "Mate, she wasn't telling you about the fireflies. She was inviting you to go be with her."

He looked at me and Belle hopefully. "You think so?"

She nodded. "I've had my heart broken enough to know when somebody's reaching out. Now go." She said. "Find your love. Find your hope. Find your dreams."

"You got a real chance here, mate. Seize the first opportunity you see to be with this girl, and don't ever look back."

He got up, grinning as he grabbed his satchel. "I'm Dreamy, by the way." He said as he prepared to leave.

"Belle." She replied.

I raised my hand from the table in a small wave. "Asgeir."

Dreamy grinned as he headed out for the door, leaving me to face the confused woman.

"How are you here, Asgeir?!" She exclaimed. "I saw that woman! She knocked you out and then disappeared with you in a cloud of smoke! What happened?"

I shook my head, thinking hard about what to say. Arendelle was already in ruins. Nothing she could do or say could help something as dire as this, especially for someone so innocent and untouched by our war against the Templars. She needn't know anything. Why should she?

"Anna and I ended up fine." I explained. "The woman is currently in the dungeon of Queen Elsa's castle, and the kingdom is safe."

Belle smiled. "Oh, that is a relief." She said. "I haven't heard any news from Arendelle for a long time."

"Not a surprise." I replied. "Neither of these realms really know much about the other. Nothing much there has changed in the last year, anyways."

Some people might even say that it hasn't changed so much; it might as well be completely frozen.

Belle then glanced at a poster on a column a few tables from her. I looked over at it, and back at her.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Some kind of beast that's roaming the land nearby. They call it a Yaoguai."

The drawing on the poster showed the beast. It looked like a massive lion with giant teeth, and a mane made out of pure fire. A reward was posted right below it for killing it, but I cannot remember how much it was. And even if I wanted to take care of the job myself, I knew what Belle was thinking.

"You think you could take down a creature like that?" I asked.

"What?" She asked, suddenly snapping to her senses. "Oh, no." She scoffed, waving her hand. "No, I don't think I'm brave enough to face it. The last time I faced a beast it…" She looked down at her half drank pint. "It didn't go over very well."

So she had faced her Beast, but she wasn't with her. I wondered what was different than the story if she was no longer with him.

"So?" I asked her. "You face a monster once, but you shouldn't let that one time shut you down forever. It only teaches you what not to do the next time." I tried to keep my smile up as I thought about what I would do the next time I faced Ingrid. "You know how I'm a hunter, right? Well, the last fearsome creature I faced I barely escaped with my life. But that has taught me how when I face it next time, I shouldn't wait for it to make the first move. I need to jump right in, and quickly. No hesitating or anything."

I looked at the poster. There was a sign up sheet to get on a wagon heading to where it was last seen, its departure date; dawn two days from tonight.

"Not every story in real life has a happy ending, but that doesn't mean that every story doesn't. Make this story one of the few, and show these men that a woman with a book can do just as much as a man with a sword."

I then pulled out a silver piece from my pocket and placed it beside her pint. "Next round is on me." I said, getting up, raising my hood and heading out into the night.

* * *

Assassins often have to ask ourselves what we regret. Most of us answer that it's the souls of every person we _didn't_ save from the Templars that haunt us the most, but I have a much grimmer answer. Every day I say to myself that the one thing I regret more than anything in the world was knowing Elsa and Anna. Half the time I wish that my father hadn't even told them that they existed. So I could be spared all the pain and misery I now feel from the memory of them. The memory of them once brought me joy, as it was all I had left, but now I can't forget how I felt when Ingrid killed them both. All it is left to me now is just ice in my veins. I now wish that they hadn't existed so that I would be spared all this misery. And almost every living thing that I have touched since has faced pain just as much. I'm no longer just a suffering victim of pain, but almost a…harbinger of pain. A bringer of death. A White…heh. Well, you get the picture. And soon afterwards, I added the dwarf to that list of people I wished I had never met. Because when he found me a few nights later, everything about him had changed.

* * *

He started to yell at me at first, but the barkeep demanded us to take it outside. When we came outside, over by the stables, he socked me right in the jaw. The little bastard had quite a punch as well. I rubbed my face, but only looked down at him, not hitting back. He was an innocent, and unless he was really asking for it, I would not hit him back just yet. Something was bothering him, and I would let him take it out for a few minutes.

"You feel better n-?" He hit me again.

He punched and kicked me as much as he could until I finally had had enough of it, and grabbed his fist. Glaring down at him, I squeezed his fist until he pulled away, growling at me.

"What is the matter with you, Dreamy?" I asked. "Things were fine until a few-"

"It's Grumpy now." He replied.

"Gru- what?" I said, confused. Wait, this arsehole was that dwarf from the story?

"You were the one who said that I should go after her! Well guess what, _mate_?!" He yelled. "I can't be with her! She's a fairy! And I'm a dwarf! If I ran off with her, the Blue Fairy would clip her wings! She said so herself!"

Oh, that fucking moth. She would pay for this one.

"This is all your fault, Asgeir!" Grumpy snarled. "You could've just left me be, but instead you thought that encouraging me to go after my dreams wouldn't do any harm! I hope you are satisfied, because you broke my spirit!"

He stormed back into the tavern leaving me out in the dark.

* * *

The forests I was now standing in were where the Blue Fairy had appeared to people most of the time. I took a long drink from my flask. I hadn't done this confrontation to her before, but I figured a few drinks would get me in the right frame of mind. I was drunk enough at this point that I was more angry than tipsy, and was now yelling at the top of my lungs at the night sky, my voice echoing through the darkened forest.

"REUL GHORM! REUL FUCKING GHORM! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU, YOU FUCKING WASP!"

She appeared to me, floating down from the sky in a ball of blue light. She scowled down at me as I yelled at her.

"What is your fucking deal?!" I screamed. "I thought you were over this cruelty when you clipped Tink's wings, but this proves that you still think yourself some kind of god! If none of us follow your bullshit rules, we all must pay! Not all fairies are like you, and I'm glad for that. But you, I know you to be no more than a devil with angels wings!"

Blue only looked down at me without any words, keeping her snooty sneer on her face as she looked down at me, then turned and started to float away.

"Don't you fucking leave!" I yelled out. "I'm not done with you, yet!"

I pulled out both my flintlocks and shot them both at her. Neither shot hit her, but she turned and looked down at me.

"You Assassins don't know anything past the pain and misery you inflict on other people. You don't get the right to judge me or any other fairy, until you learn to see the good in other people. Even Templars."

She turned and went back to floating away as I yelled out at the night sky once more.

* * *

"She hurt another, Tink." I said. "I don't know what I'm going to do anymore. Any time these days when I try to do good, something ends up happening that pushes me into an even darker place than before."

Tink sat beside me on the log, taking a drink from my flask. After having my fill of screaming at the moon, I used a bean to travel to Neverland. Pan was a dangerous monster too dangerous for any Assassin to face, but he apparently was once one of us, so he would leave us alone as long as we did the same and didn't interfere with his business. And for me, that meant that no matter how much I wanted to do it, I couldn't take Tink with me when I left Neverland again. She fit into his plans, I guessed.

"You said it yourself when she first clipped my wings, Asgeir. Blue hurts everyone that doesn't follow her rules." She kept silent as we both sat there in quiet contemplation. Even if I wanted to kill Blue, (and I wanted to very badly), by our laws, she was still innocent. Nothing I really had left to do but find something else to fight for that she hadn't touched.

I got up and pulled out a bottle from my satchel. I had been getting into a bad habit lately, but both Tink and I agreed that some habits helped, no matter what other people said.

"Thanks." She said as she took the bottle from me, handing me back my flask. Both of them were full of fine whiskey.

"You're welcome." I replied. "I'll be back the soonest I can, Tink."

"Please take me with you this time, brother." She halfheartedly begged. "Please?"

I shook my head. "Pan scares me just as much as he scares you, Tink. Maybe almost as much as the other monster that slaughtered my family. As much as I hate to say it, what he says goes."

Tink started tearing up, then jumped up and grabbed me in a hug.

"Goodbye, Asgeir!" She exclaimed. "I'll miss you!"

I nodded sadly as she pulled away. "As will I." I replied, dropping the bean onto the ground, the floor collapsing below me.

* * *

**During "Heart of Darkness"**

Every time I visited Snow after she had hijacked David's carriage and fell in love with him, I knew that what she really wanted from me wasn't teachings in archery anymore, but what was going on with him. And unfortunately, I had last seen her to tell her that her man was going to marry Abigail. I had received the news from him weeks ago, and no matter how much we both hated it, this was something the Assassins could not pull him out of. He had to go through with it.

I returned to the cottage another month later. As I walked out of the brush I saw a familiar hood.

"Red!" I called out.

She turned and grinned. "Asgeir!" She cried as we both ran for each other, and hugged.

"Here for Snow?" I asked.

She looked at me puzzled. "Oh, you don't know?" She asked. "She's gone. She left to go break up Prince James' wedding."

I shook my head, smiling a little. "That girl. Always full of surprises."

We suddenly heard a man's voice calling out. "Snow! Snow White! Snow! Are you there?!"

Red and I walked through the brush towards the voice, into a clearing beside the cottage. It was David.

"She's gone!" I called out.

David looked over at us as we approached.

"She never came back after she went to find you." Red said.

He looked at us, determined. "Then I'll find her." He said as he guided his horse over nearby, readying to mount it. "I will always find her. And I will convince her that we belong together. I will always fight for her, no matter what comes between us."

Red only grinned. "It won't be much of a fight."

"What are you talking about?"

"Brother, Snow wants to be with you more than anything." I said. "You're all that she's thought about for weeks

He raised his eyebrow at us. "Don't mock me. Snow told me that we can't be together because she doesn't love me."

"No." She replied. "She left here to break up your wedding, because she's in love with you."

Something occurred to me in that instant. "But unless, something changed her mind along the way?" I said

David shook his head angrily. "Not something. Someone!"

"James?"

We heard shouting as we saw armoured riders galloping. No mistaking the arms on their doublets. It was George and his men.

"Who are they?" Red asked

"That someone: King George!"

"BRING ME HIS HEAD!" The shite Templar king thundered. "AND THE ASSASSIN'S TOO!"

"Come on!" David called as he grabbed Red wrist and pulled her up onto his horse. I shook my head when he offered his hand

"Go on!" I can run just as fast!"

David nodded, turning his horse before spurring it into a gallop. The guards shot their crossbows at us, but they all missed as we headed off into the woods.

* * *

The soldiers seemed to let up as the day went on, but not by much. It was that they were getting tired faster than the three of us. While David and Red kept riding on their horseback, I was keeping up within the treetops. The guards were now divided on whether or not to shoot me down, or their prince. Eventually I realized we needed a good distraction to escape, and I had just the thing. I jumped down onto a lower branch as I kept running, but I grabbed the grenade I needed and pulled the pin on it as I dropped it. It hit the ground just as David and Red rode past it, but went off at the right time causing a massive explosion of shrapnel and dirt to blow several of George's soldiers away. I wouldn't stay behind to kill George just yet. I knew that I would have to eventually be given the approval to do so. It didn't feel right, here in the forest. And I had to help David and Red get out of here.

We rode on for days until we were certain that we had lost them, and then took to setting up camp in a large clearing in the forest.

David explained what had happened with Snow while we sat by the fire. "Snow, she… I invited her to the castle, asking her that she come to me for us to run away together. I found her, but George must have gotten to her first. She told me that she didn't love me anymore, and walked right out of the castle."

"Templar control freak shites." I growled. "George can't get away with this, Jimmy."

"I know. But there can be a better way towards defeating him than killing him."

Red nodded. "He and the other kingdoms are too powerful, even with how they are almost bankrupt now. You'd never get close enough to him."

I was about to reply when I noticed a star up above Red. It was brighter than any I had seen before, and it was also bigger. In fact, it looked to be getting bigger and-

"RED!"

She darted out of the way just as I lunged forwards and dove to take the arrow. It landed right in my back and out the front of my chest. I got up groaning as the riders came out of the tree line.

"Move! MOVE!" I called out. David and Red followed as she looked at me in horror at how the arrow was sticking right through me, and I wasn't even blinking. David only gave me a look of acknowledgement of he remembered what afflicted me. We ran over to David's horse.

"Red, Asgeir, c'mon!"

Red and I both looked at each other, understanding. We had a better purpose than going with him.

"Go, James!" I called out as I raised my hood. "We got this!"

"No, I'm not leaving you both!" He called.

"Find Snow!" Red ordered. "That's all that matters!"

"But what're you two doing?!" He asked.

As I pulled the arrow right through my chest and snapping it in half, I suddenly noticed the light that was flooding the field. Moonlight.

"Giving you a head start." She said as unfastened her hood and dropped it onto the ground.

David looked confused, but turned his horse and yelled out as he kicked and spurred it off into the darkness.

I cracked my neck as I drew my cutlasses.

"Ever killed any Templars before, Red?"

"I don't think so." She replied as we started sprinting towards the guards, her eyes glowing

"You never forget your first." I said as she got down on all four and grew in size. I yelled out a charge as the battle began. But as Red and I fought, the Assassins and the Wolf together, I knew that this battle was more than anything a start of what was coming. All out war.

* * *

**Three years after the casting of the Dark Curse, in an undisclosed location near the southern coast of British Columbia.**

Steven had done all he could in his position to support me in my search for the town. The town where everyone in the Enchanted Forest was apparently banished to. But unfortunately it wasn't much. During my last visit he had given me a set of encrypted coordinates that led me to this place. Long into the night, I could see the distant light pollution from Vancouver in the sky as I searched around for whatever I was supposed to see.

It was in the middle of the summer months, so warm that night that I only had the hood of my hoodie hanging over my head with the rest of the sweater flapping behind me as I looked among the trees in the dark, the light of a flashlight the only help I had left.

Several times throughout the few hours I spent, I was practically begging myself to quit this. Whatever Steven told me I would find here was long gone, and I really shouldn't have been surprised. The Modern Day Assassins were just as Nomad-like as Arendelle's branch for the last few years. Whatever there had been in this location, it was now dead. Nothing left to really find.

I shook my head, getting ready to head back to the boat I had used to get here, when I suddenly felt something strange about the ground when I walked a few steps back. I was standing on a raised platform made of metal, covered in dead, yellow pine needles. I brushed away as much of them as I could, blowing away some of them. I shined my flashlight down on the platform, and then shook my head at the symbolism of it all. Right in the center of the metal platform, the Assassin insignia shone in the beam of light from my flashlight. And there was no mistaking the key that the slot in the center was asking for. I extended my blade and inserted it into the slot, then turned.

The door began to turn, so I got up and stepped away as it turned a whole circle before opening upwards, like a regular door on hinges. I looked cautiously down the trapdoor where a ladder led down into darkness. Clearly this is what Steven was sending me to, and with very little left in terms of friends who could help me find the town, I climbed up and started down the ladder.

It was sickeningly wet with water or whatever it was. I didn't even want to think what other gross substances it was covered in, and just tried my best not to fall. The immediate thought that came to me was that falling down this shaft wouldn't kill me, but some part of me was very afraid of whatever was down there. Some kind of secret weapon? Another precursor vault? A message meant for me just as there was one Ezio received from someone called Desmond? I suddenly made a misstep, slipping and making a wild grab for a rung on the ladder. My hoodie slipped off my head and fell down the shaft, and I heard a soft "thunk". There was a bottom to this thing, at least that I could be sure of.

I couldn't see the bottom of the shaft, even after a whole five minutes of climbing down. I wanted to go back, but I had been too focused in my climbing to notice that the door had shut behind me, until I looked up in fear. I kept climbing down, noticing the cold for the first time; I was shivering like crazy since my hoodie fell down the shaft, and I now regretted not having it zipped up like I should have. What was the whole point of me going this far west into Canada? Sure, it was supposed to be cold here, but I doubted Ingrid or the town were up here. And why all the secrecy? Something told me that whatever was down here was-

My foot slammed down on the hard, wet stone floor and I slipped and fell down. I rubbed my head as I got up, grabbing my flashlight and looking around. My hoodie was right in front of me in a crumpled mess on the floor, and as I slipped it on, I felt how wet and cold it was, trying hard not to notice. There was a small arched opening in the wall with the insignia right above me. No way left to go but forwards, so I ducked under the archway and went inside.

The next room was massive. I could feel how empty the air was and the space just at how my feet echoed off the stone floor. There were small columns of light coming down the sides of the room against the walls from holes that looked to be miles above where I stood. Under each column lay a basin of water above a large mesh drain cover. I could hear a couple dripping sounds come across the room down from above into the basins. I figured out that this vault was underneath the mountain where I was, and that on in the winter months was it truly secure from the Templars. The holes in the roof were inside rivers that were currently running dry at the moment, but when winter would come, the creeks would fill back up burying the vault under water and snow.

"WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU, ASGEIR SWORTSSEN." I heard echo through the hall. This voice was deep and forceful

I shook my head as I walked forwards across the floor. Another Assassin symbol was carved into the floor. The ancient Assassins loved to show of their brand. Everywhere we lived.

"YOU DOUBT THAT WE CAN HELP YOU. AND YOU DOUBT EVEN YOURSELF." I heard another voice call, this time that of a woman's, but just as fearsome sounding.

I looked up or wherever I could to look for the source of the voices. "The things that I have seen and have happened to me don't make me doubt much in the faith of the divine powers of the precursors. But they make me doubt my faith in others. You aren't the first person I have heard of that has failed others because of their inability to deliver. And you're not the first people who hide in the shadows pretending to be some kinds of mytics."

"WE ARE NOT THE WIZARD OF OZ, REAPER. WE ARE NOT PEOPLE WHO CHOOSE TO LIE TO OTHERS TO SPARE THEM PAIN." I heard another voice call. Every time the voice paused, it changed to another's "WE ARE ASSASSINS JUST LIKE YOU ARE."

I chuckled a little. "Alright, I'll buy into some of this. Why am I here?"

"YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU SEEK ANSWERS. MAYBE EVEN HELP."

I nodded as I kept walking towards the end of the great hall. Where were these people? The voices were so loud I couldn't tell where they were coming from. "You're right. I want help finding the bitch that killed my family so I can drive my blade into her throat."

"WE KNOW YOU, ASGEIR. AND WE KNOW THAT IN RECENT YEARS, YOU HAVE LOST YOUR WAY AND YOUR FAITH IN THE CREED. HOW COULD LIFE HAND YOU SUCH A RUTHLESS FATE WHEN YOU FIGHT TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT? WE CAN HELP YOU FIND WHAT YOU SEEK, BUT YOU WILL FIRST HAVE TO FACE OPPOSITION UNLIKE ANYTHING THE TEMPLARS OR YOUR ENEMIES ON YOUR OWN PERSONAL LIST HAVE PUT YOU THROUGH. UNTIL YOU LEARN THAT THIS WAR IS NOT ABOUT YOUR OWN PERSONAL SATISFACTION FOR REVENGE, YOU WILL NOT RECIEVE WHAT YOU NEED TO HUNT INGRID DOWN AND KILL HER. YOU WERE NOT FAITHFULLY READY THE FIRST TIME, AND YOU MAY NOT BE THE NEXT TIME."

I growled. "I _am_ ready! The longer I wander this world looking for the town, the longer Ingrid is out there trying to hurt other people. Don't you get it?! I'm doing what I swore to do! What I was asked!"

"NO. YOU ARE DOING AS YOU PLEASED! YOU HIDE BEHIND THE CREED AND SAY THAT YOU CAN SOLVE EVERY PROBLEM YOU FACE WITH THE FLICK OF A BLADE. KILLING EVERY TEMPLAR YOU COME ACROSS WILL NOT BRING BACK YOUR SISTERS."

I clenched my fists as I kept walking down toward the end. Somewhere at the end, there was something these cowards were hiding in the shadows that would have been able to help me take her down.

"And who are you to judge? You say you are Assassins, yet you judge me like Ingrid did. Like Zelena and even the fairies did. Divine strength does not give you the right to look down on other people! The Creed teaches us that all life is sacred! And that we are all equal!"

"WE _ARE_ ASSASSINS, ASGEIR SWORTSSEN. THE SOULS OF ASSASSINS THAT HAVE LONG SINCE DIED, BUT WHAT LIES BEYOND THE VEIL OF DEATH DECIDED THAT IT IS FOR THE BEST THAT WE STAY HERE, HIDING IN THE DEEPEST DARKNESS, HIDDEN AWAY EVEN FROM THE MOST ELUSIVE OF ASSASSINS, AND THE MOST THOROUGH OF TEMPLARS. THE FEW ASSASSINS THAT KNOW OF US CALL US THE MASTERS. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS, ASGEIR SWORTSSEN. IF ANYONE ASIDE FROM THE FEW ASSASSINS WE TRUST GAINED THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE STRENGTH THAT WE CARRY, ALL WOULD BE LOST. THIS IS YET ANOTHER VAULT THAT NO UNWORTHY ASSASSIN MAY FIND."

I started to see the end of the hall. A table lay there underneath a seventh beam of light.

"So if you will not help me find Ingrid, then why am I here?"

"YOU ONCE PROVED UNQUESTIONABLE LOYALTY AND COURAGE TOWARDS THE ASSASSINS, AND IN DOING SO, WE ONCE TRUSTED YOU. YOUR FATHER HIMSELF KNEW OF US, AND HE WANTED A BETTER PATH FOR YOU AND HIS BRANCH. YOU LOOK ON THE TABLE AND YOU WILL FIND A FOLDER. TAKE IT AND RETURN TO US WHEN EVERY ONE OF THE OBJECTIVES IN IT ARE FINISHED. IF YOU COMPLETE THEM, THEN WE WILL KNOW IF YOU ARE READY TO BEGIN THE PATH OF REDEMPTION."

I looked over the table. It looked like one people put in a conference room, with chair all around it, the Assassin insignia carved right into the center of it. I found the folder right at the head of it with a wax seal of the symbol keeping it shut. Fancy.

"BEFORE YOU GO, ASGEIR SWORTSSEN, THERE IS ONE THING YOU WILL NEED TO LEARN BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE HARDEST TRIALS OF YOUR LIFE."

"Nothing I haven't seen or heard can be as bad as what you have to offer me, Masters." I replied.

Oh, but I was very wrong. I was more wrong than I ever had been in my life. This would be the first step I would take into finding the information I now wish I had never known. The horrible truth.

"LIKE MOST ASSASSINS, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE ROGUE, SHAY PATRICK CORMAC."

"Aye." I replied. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"IT'S THE MISSING PAGES. EVERY ONE OF HIS JOURNALS WERE IN ASSASSINS HANDS, AND YOU HELD THEM ONCE AS WELL, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THEM THAT THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON. THE LAST FEW PAGES LEFT IN THEM WERE TORN OUT."

"You know what was in them?"

"YES, BUT NO ASSASSIN ALIVE THAT ALREADY DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT WAS IN THEM IS READY TO KNOW. ONLY ONE PERSON ALIVE KNOWS WHAT WAS IN THEM, AND NOT ONLY DO YOU KNOW THEM, BUT THEY ARE THE ONE WHO DESTROYED THE PAGES IN THE FIRST PLACE."

I looked up towards the hall. I heard another drip from above as I started thinking about it. And it hit me like a shovel. It just didn't feel right to me. Why would Templars try to suppress information on their greatest warrior? It didn't seem like something they would do, and if that was the case, then that left only a handful of people. A face came to mind…No. Not him. It couldn't be.

"YES, ASGEIR SWORTSSEN. THE PAGES WERE NOT DESTROYED BY TEMPLARS LIKE YOU HAD ORIGINALLY BELIEVED. THEY WERE DESTROYED BY YOUR MENTOR, MATTHEW LUND."

* * *

**The Gates: December 21st 2011**

Now, after years of my last contact with the Masters, they had this package sent to me, asking me to go on this Year Walk. Would it be to show me the future? That's what the Ancient Norse believed. This seemed to all be leading me towards unearthing something that I could feel had been kept buried for far too long from any Assassin's eyes.

Elsa's candle was long gone by now. I'll even bet the current tipped it over and put it out over an hour ago. I had been sitting there most of the night, the dawn sky just starting to glow. I might as well have head back to my cabin and just try and get some sleep. I would take a look at the package when I woke up and would decide how I would go around to performing the ritual then.

They all doubted me because of what I turned into. I became a raging psychopath hellbent on torturing and killing whoever had any information leading to Ingrid, the one who did this to me. She broke my mind and infected me with something that now drove me to do horrible things costing me my hood, the last thing I had left to live for. Now no one in the brotherhood really trusts me, and they will keep a very close eye on me when the time comes. But it will all be useless. I know how the Assassins work, because I have been one for most of my life. None of them will stop me. I will hunt the c*** down, burn every hole she has left to hide in, smoke her out, show her a world of agony she has only begun to imagine, cut any friends she has right in half, and then, when she has lost everything and her world is a world of fire and steel instead of ice, only then will she be given the bittersweet release of the Reaper's Caress.

* * *

**Now**

Rory was just finishing up another one of his Irish songs, this time with the help of Torren backing him up. Turns out quite a few Assassins liked music as a hobby. I stood in the doorway to the inn's rooms.

"Come out ye black and tans/ come out and fight me like a man/ show yer wives how ye won medals down in Flanders/ Tell 'er how the IRA made you run the hell away/ from the green and lovely lanes of Kileshandra."

Matthew had gotten up from his seat and started for the door when he finished his pint. I stood right in front of him.

"Move, Asgeir."

I stood definitely at him with my arms crossed. He tossed his hands up carelessly to his shoulders.

"Can't a brother got to get some sleep?"

"No, a brother cannot." I said in a low voice to him. "Not until a brother knows that he has pissed of the wrong brother. Especially by hiding and destroying information that this brotherhood should have learned decades ago."

Matthew raised his eyebrows, daring me to hit him. "You may think that by burning those pages, I was hiding that shit to protect my own arse. But don't forget: everything that I have done since you got yanked out your precious Templar mummy's womb, I did it to protect you just as much as this branch."

I only shook my head slowly at him as I stepped off to the side. I was onto him now. And he was losing the trust of the branch. Jason and Zar now hated him for voting against my hood. I wanted him to know that I was sitting on the memory of those pages, so that I had what anyone ready to complete his vengeance would have: leverage. But Matthew wasn't the only one left in this town who I had a thing or two to do to. Time to go to war.


	27. Chapter 27: Snow Drifts

**A/N: I hate to sound skeptical, but I wasn't as impressed with the Once winter finale as I know I should have been. The acting felt choppy, the end results were predictable, what happened to Zelena was anticlimactic and not at all what should have happened with her, and Arthur just seemed to have vanished from the writers' ideas. Plus with this journey to the Underworld in March, they're bringing back characters that have died. So writer of Once, if you're reading this, then I have a request for you: Do not, and I repeat DO NOT BRING BACK INGRID! I think I had had enough when Zelena was brought back from the dead, but you would lose a loyal fan if you brought back that bitch. You clearly have no idea how to make a good villain anymore based on recent story arcs. I'll admit that Cruella and Maleficent were ok, but Zelena, Ingrid, and even Arthur are villains that I love to hate, and nothing more. They have close to nothing redeeming about them whatsoever, and you're heading down a dark path now that won't end well.**

**Sorry. Tend to rant around there. Anyways, I am almost done with the last chapter of Season 3, and after the next chapter, I will be taking a short break as I explained in my last chapter. Like my own winter finale. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 27: Snow Drifts

"Asgeir!"

I snorted and turned over.

"Asgeir! Wake yer buckin' ass up!"

I groaned and rolled over again. I had had enough of that ghost of an Irish bastard giving me the wakeup call. The next time he called for me, I would punch him right the face.

"C'mon, Asgeir! Yah had too much ta drink!" I felt him kick me lightly in the ribs.

I responded to that comment by using my right hand as a launcher and slamming my fist right into his face. As I noticed whom I just punched, I gasped and ran over.

Rory was backing down, clutching his nose. "Bloody feckin' hell! What was that for?!"

"Rory!" I cried. "I'm sorry, man!"

"I think yah broke me nose!" He gasped, still holing his face. "Oh, shite! How bad is it?!"

Luckily I hadn't broken it, but it looked pretty red from what I could see. I rubbed my eyes as I looked around. With my sleepwalking, I had ended up right in the forest this time, so it was all the more surprising to find Rory with me first thing in the morning. When I asked what he was doing here, he told me as he clutched his nose.

"I had one too many Irish coffees and spent the whole night with no sleep." He explained. "I'm in the pub just tryin' tah sleep it off, and the next thing I know, I see yah stumble out of the inn, through the pub, and out into the night. I had to find out what was goin' on."

I sighed as we started walking through the woods, back towards town. "I forgot that you didn't know."

"Didn't know what? Does this have somethin' tah do with Project Boden?"

I glanced at him. "Did I tell you about that last night?"

"Yah told me a lot of stuff, brother. You, Jason and Zar. Yah offered me a part in helpin' yah out with takin' down King George. But besides that, are yah goin' to explain to me why I find yah sleepwalking all the way out here?"

"It's a curse that's afflicted me for a long time, Rory. Seven years after Zelena turned you, I finally revealed myself to Elsa and Anna, my half-sisters. Despite their parents both being Templars, they offered the Arendelle branch and me sanctuary, and we were able to begin fixing our position back to what it used to be. But it came too little, too late. Through the efforts of a Templar prince that wanted Arendelle for himself, he unearthed an urn that carried another that processed magic similar to Elsa's. You know of Elsa's magic?"

"Aye. I've heard the whispers from Assassins who have seen her before I was turned. The lass can make it snow."

"Well, it turned out that our aunt on that side of the family could as well. But she was nothing like Elsa. She saw Anna and me, and blamed us for things that weren't even remotely our fault. She used an enchanted mirror and cursed both of us with uncontrollable anger. Although she gave me the worse part of it by clawing me in the eyes with a knife made out of shards of the mirror. The situation got out of hand with Anna's anger, and she trapped Elsa in the urn. This was not what Ingrid wanted to happen, so she took her anger out on us again, this time freezing Arendelle in an instant along with Anna, her fiancé Kristoff, and two of our brothers at arms, Troy and Rabbit. But that wasn't enough for the freak. Despite all the pain I was feeling, I kept fighting her, so she wanted to put me down even further than that bitch already had, and froze my heart. Those two spells weren't supposed to be used on the same person, and the end result is unholy: I physically cannot age or die, and I suffer from a broken mind. The things that have happened to me gave me a rage that no Assassin has ever had before."

"So this woman curses yah with a mirror that makes yah angry? Ok, I already knew that this town was a looney bin just as much as the other lands, but this is takin' it one step further."

"She knows no mercy, no kindness, and she poisons and kills everything that she touches, Rory. It's why I'm here. Ingrid has some kind of plan that involves her unleashing this hellish spell on hundreds of innocent people in this town, forcing them to kill each other."

"So what is stoppin' yah?" He asked. "Or is it something old Matthew told yah to do?"

"He knows something, Rory. Something that every Assassin has been kept secret from by my father and him. A secret that I learned through the curse."

"What kind of secret?" He asked me, with fearful concern in his eyes.

Rory wasn't someone who had seen the bad side of me just yet. He needed to see at least a fraction of what I have seen.

"I need your full disclosure, Rory. That you trust what I do and what I will say and that this is not made up."

"I will if yah just tell me, Asgeir."

I pulled out from my hoodie pocket a small notebook I kept on hand, and a pen, and began writing. I only kept it on hand for something like this to happen, but I did not keep the pages written down. I remembered what was in them like they were my own memories. But they felt more like they were tattoos on my mind. Like what Cora had shown me of Norik's past, everything I had seen in Shay's life, I remembered too well.

As we walked I kept writing, tearing out a page of the notebook every time I finished on it, and handing it to Rory. Four pages in, he stopped me.

"Are these…what I think they are?" He stammered.

"I told you that I'm not lying, Rory. Matthew tried to hide this information and if you read the whole thing, you will know why. It was him that ripped out and burned the pages so he could hide them from the branch."

We resumed walking, heading back out of the woods and onto the main street as I kept writing down the pages.

* * *

I didn't get time to finish by the time we reached Cormac's but Rory said he would destroy them and wait until it was safe for us to continue with them. When we got back inside, Jason and Zar were talking with two others.

"Cindy! Red!" I said, grinning as they walked over.

"Hey, Asgeir." Red said. "And you are?"

"Ah. Rory Woods." He shook both the girls hands. "Assassin of Dublin at yer service. Was one of Greenie's little monkeys a while ago, but it's good ta be back. Glad to have found Asgeir so soon after where he went. He's back here, not too worse for the wear."

Zar came up with Jason. "So what brings you girls over today?" He asked.

"We're sort of throwing a party at Granny's. Pot luck celebrating Snow and David's new baby coming." Cindy said. "We know that her place and Cormac's never got along, but Granny said she would be more than happy if the Assassins dropped by. The whole town is welcome."

I nodded. "We'll be there. Tonight?"

"That's right. Starts at 5."

"Perfect." Jason said. "Although something tells me that you both came over for more than just an invitation."

Red looked over her shoulder and then pointed to one of the tables. The six of us sat over there as Red took out an envelope from her bag.

"It's been a few weeks since you recruited us to Project Boden, but so far we haven't gotten much further than that. So Ashley and I went by and did some digging of our own."

"Anything good?" Jason asked, a mix of worry and wonder in his eyes.

"I don't know." Cindy said. "We don't know what kind of information you guys have, so we have no idea if what we have will add on anything to the cause."

Red slipped the envelope across the table, and Zar opened it, taking a close look at them. The first papers were photos, and they gave us a little bit more evidence.

"That's George meeting with a representative of his benefactors from out of town." Red said as Zar looked at each photo. "Templar agents, I'd bet my hood on."

The man George was talking with was stern and rigid, a black collared coat with the Templar cross pinned on his lapel.

"What was he there for?"

"We couldn't tell much." Cindy replied. "We would think that it was concerning finances-"

"Not that." I replied. "George has been getting paid for the outgoing shipments through his dealers. He wouldn't risk the exposure unless if something was going on."

"Could they be onto us?" Rory asked. "I only just got here."

Zar looked uneasily at the photos. George's usual scowl on his face looked even worse than before. His contact didn't look too happy, either. They were mad about something.

"Oh, you know," I heard Shay as he looked over Jason's shoulder and down at the photos. "They must have figured out how yah got the nicer toys here, and now know what you're trying to do!"

"We're going to have to play it cautiously going out." I said, ignoring Shay, as usual. "Whatever George was there, meeting his contact for, it doesn't matter as much as the exposure. The guy doesn't show his arse to the sun for months and suddenly shows up to talk with his outside contact? Something is not going right for him and his meth tweaking twats. We can't let him think that we are focusing on him."

"But he's going to easily think that with Zelena captured, Asgeir." Zar said. "He's concerned with who we have left to hunt down with the Witch out of the way."

I shook my head. "He won't be thinking that when Ingrid makes her first move and we turn our sights to her."

"Ingrid?"

I looked over at Red and Cindy. They both stared at me inquisitively.

"Who is Ingrid?"

No use hiding it from them. "She's who's going to attack Storybrooke next if we don't kill her soon."

"Wait, there's another enemy here?" Cindy whispered. "Jeez. We just cannot catch a break."

"What can we do to help? We should tell Snow and David-"

"No!" I snapped. "Absolutely not. None of them thought it would be a good idea to kill Zelena, and I can understand that well enough." I lied. "But Ingrid is another monster entirely. She will destroy this town and all it's people, but she is mine to kill. Not Snow's and David's to kiss and make up with. They will show her mercy, then she will make us claw out each other's throats."

Red and Cindy were only listening to me with shock in their eyes.

"What Asgeir isn't really pulling any punches while trying to explain is that this woman isn't a Templar, but she is a threat that should be our concern more than the town's." Jason said. "We find the right opportunity starting tomorrow, hunt her down, then kill her before she gets any bright ideas with Zelena out of the way. But that is not the concern at the moment. It's George."

I looked at Jason. "You're the one who started this, J. What do you think we should do going forwards with the Project?"

Jason then shifted through the papers Red had given us, and noticed something else. A map of Storybrooke with lines and marks all over it. It was a route that went across town.

"I know these kinds of marks." He murmured. He looked at the girls. "You tailed them?"

"If you think about it, it's the best move. If one of you were spotted there, George would have sniffed you out and set off every alarm he had." Cindy said.

Red pointed and traced her finger around the long line that wove through the streets of town. "This is the path that he took when we spotted and started tailing him. We don't know where he came from, nor do we know where he finished his trip across town. We left before they spotted us."

"Probably the best decision." I said. "The numbers on the path?"

"We numbered every photo too, see." Cindy said. "The numbers on the photos are where we took them on the map."

"And the Xs here?" Jason asked.

"I know for a fact that every one of those places are labs." Red said. "I smelled the chemicals from the car."

I smirked. Red had her wolf senses to thank for that.

Jason's eyes widened as he looked at the map. "Most of these labs we never even knew were there! This is good intel!"

"It is?"

"Yes." Zar replied. "Looks like you tagged three that we already knew of, but overall we have another four added to the map. This is great progress to the mission. You did great for us."

"You're welcome." Cindy replied as the two of them got up. "Again, everyone who works here at Cormac's is invited to the party if they want to go."

"We'll be there, girls." I replied. "See you this afternoon."

As we started walking off, Red grabbed my arm. "Can we talk?" She asked.

I nodded and walked her over to the hallway between the pub and the inn, and we walked into the meeting room. I took my seat beside the head of the table, while Red sat across from me in Jason's spot.

"So what is going on?" I asked.

Red sighed, thinking hard about what she was going to say. Then she started with a question that I wasn't expecting. "Why did your father hate werewolves so much?"

I sat back in my chair, surprised by this question, of course. No one outside the Assassins asked me questions about my father, or even mention him.

"Well, I think there is a bunch of reasons why. I never found out if he killed any. We know for a fact that he stripped your mother's hood off when she slaughtered all those other Assassins. She should have counted herself lucky, really. Murder of another brother is punishable by death in our brotherhood. I think my father really hated them because he faced a lot of them who liked the wolf side so much, they had a need to feed on humans instead of trying to live like civilized people."

"Yeah." Red replied, nodding. "I think I understand. But that doesn't change the hard truth, Asgeir."

"What truth is that?"

"I feel out of place here. Sure, I'm among friends, some of which I have known for a good part of my life, but I haven't seen any of my own kind in a long time."

"You want to find other werewolves?" I asked.

Red reached into her pocket. She laid down her fist on the table and opened it. A Magic Bean.

"Wow." I said. "How did you get that?"

"This giant who ended up in town here, Anton. He carried a seedling of a beanstalk and was able to grow more of them here in town. Except Regina and Cora burned them when they were here, and we were only able to salvage so many after that. I want to go back to the Enchanted Forest and find more of my kind. It's something I'd much rather do than take revenge on George."

I reached over the table and placed my hand on hers. "I care for you, Red." I said. "And I wouldn't do anything to spite you or hurt you. But I don't think this is the right call just yet."

Red looked at me confused, but I only smirked as I looked down at her hand.

"I don't think you're telling me this for the reason that you think, Red. You thought that you were telling me in hopes that I would give you my blessing to go out and find more werewolves for you to join with. But really I think you're telling me, the most vocal of your friends, so that you can find a reason of why you shouldn't go."

Red crossed her arms. "Okay. Why don't you think I should go, then?"

"You're the closest thing I have left to a family now, Red. I know how you can take care of yourself, but this may be the biggest war that we have ever faced."

"You mean because of this Ingrid woman?"

I nodded. Shay suddenly appeared beside her.

"The lass is gonna leave yah if yah fuck this up, Asgeir." He said. "No pressure."

"Red, this Ingrid freak was the one who murdered my real family, my two half sisters, Elsa and Anna. She may be the last of my blood left as she was my mother's sister, but I will burn in hell before I consider her family. I told you all this so long ago, but there are other things you need to know. My hood was taken away from me after the First Curse arrived. I used a Magic Bean to escape the curse, and over the next thirty years I spent in this world, I fought hard on the front lines of the war against the Templars, and became more and more obsessed with hunting her down and killing her. Now she's here in Storybrooke, and I have my chance to take her down. But the cruelest thing I now know is that all that's stopping me from walking right down the street to her ice cream shop and shoving my blade right into her eye is all those people outside this room. They're my brothers at arms, Red. But they have lost their faith in me from what they have seen of me. They may treat me like one, but I see clearly now. They don't trust me, and they will try to stop me from killing Ingrid,"

Red didn't understand. "Why do you need me here then, if you can do it yourself?"

"Because you're one of only four people I know I can trust outside this room. The darkness is coming, and if you leave, then who knows what will happen to me when I try to face it? When I face _her_?"

Red shook her head. "I just don't know how I can stay here anymore, Asgeir."

I sighed as I put my face in my hands.

"Unless…"

I looked up from my hands. "Unless what?"

"Now that I think about it, you mentioned that there are some branches of the Assassins that have werewolves in them, right?"

"That's right. They're civilized ones that follow a special set of laws aside from our own. There's even one branch that has not one mortal human among their ranks."

Red looked down at the bean in her hand, then placed it on the table. "If you get my help in fighting the oncoming fight with Ingrid, then you owe me. You take me to them after this is all done and finished."

I sighed with relief as I took the bean. Better safe than sorry. Who's to say she wouldn't try and escape when Ingrid made her move? "Thank you, Red. I won't forget this. I promise."

* * *

A few hours later I was in the Project Boden room going over the map. Zar was putting the new labs on there, which was bringing the total labs up to a devastating 15.

"We might not have the numbers to strike them all at once when the time is right." He said to me as we started going over what we had at Cormac's. "George is putting more up too fast, by the time we're ready, we may be too spread thin."

"Yes, but there's no way to take them down at all and take George if we don't take them that way."

Rory looked hard at the map. "What kind o' chemical traces can we find?"

Jason glanced at him. "Uh, I'm not sure…I could give you a list from one of our techs?"

"Good. I may have a way we can take them down from the inside out individually to thin them down."

"What are you talking about, Rory?"

"Chemistry. I remember a few chemistry books I had to hit while developing gas bombs with the IRA. If I can go over a few more, I might know if there is a chemical I can sabotage to make their machines malfunction and the labs explode."

Zar's eyes widened as he began to understand. "You sabotage the chemicals that are going in, and that will take down the lab making them think it was them and not us. Keeps them from aiming back at us."

"Precisely." Rory replied. "It'll thin down the herd for when we are able to take down the rest of them."

The doors of the room suddenly opened and both Matthew and another man I knew walked in. He was a sout man built like a blacksmith, balding with grey hair at the sides of his head, and a thick grey beard to match. He was wearing a long grey sleeved t shirt with the Assassin logo on his right breast pocket, and a black hooded coat over that. Keaton, the Mentor of the Enchanted Forest branch.

"What are you two doing here?" I snapped.

Keaton flinched a bit, shaking his head. "I didn't realize I'd be turning back from a monkey to face such hostility, Asgeir. And by the way, it is nice to see you again."

"Look, Asgeir." Jason said, reaching and taking me by the arm, expecting me to advance on them. "I invited them here for a small meeting. And I need you to be here, too. So shut up unless I ask you."

Jason then walked forwards between me, Zar and Rory, and Keaton and Matthew.

"Gentlemen, we all know what is coming next. Zelena has been out of the way for almost 24 hours, which means Ingrid will be making her next move soon. As such, I think it best that we take the necessary defensive precautions and prepare for the worst. She obviously will be targeting us the most, considering we are all that stands between her and this town's people. And she's here for some reason."

"Which we have no real idea why." Keaton interrupted.

"_That being said._" Jason snapped back, continuing. "I want you both to listen to me. You are our Mentors, but Asgeir is the only one who has faced Ingrid head on when she had every intention on killing him. Matthew, we already know that you knew Ingrid, but not like this. Asgeir will tell us what we are going to need to use to defend Cormac's and our troops better, and you both will authorize it."

Matthew crossed his arms. He wasn't keen on the idea of listening to my orders since I had blackmailed him last night. But he nodded.

Jason then nodded to me. "Go on, Asgeir. We have everything we might need to protect Cormac's, but you will know what it'll be in our arsenal to take anything that tries to approach our front door down."

I looked over at Keaton and Matthew. "Alright then." I said. "I'd say the first things we are going to need are sentry guns."

"That won't be easy to get, Asgeir." Keaton said. "We had a few of them, but I don't know if we still have them in our stockpile. We may have shipped them back to our customers."

"Get them if you can, at least." I said. "We need to do more than guard Cormac's. We need to lock it down completely, starting tonight after the party. Snipers on the roof, and sentry guards at every entrance, and if we can spare a few, I want drones in the sky."

"And the Outposts?" Matthew said, his eyebrows raised again. "What about them? Those places are meant to store weapons."

"They were meant to _hide_ weapons, Matthew." I replied. "Not store them. I bet we might even find some forgotten weapons buried there if we do what I think is necessary next: empty them all out, then kill the locations. We won't be going back there unless it is safe again and I have killed Ingrid. We take the weapons back here to Cormac's and store them either in the Bunker, or if we don't have the room, in the empty rooms in the Inn. The key is to pull back every troop that we have and get them to Cormac's by tonight. Then lock it down with what resources we have."

There was silence for a while. Both old Mentors glanced at each other, then Keaton looked back at me.

"Matthew's been telling me things about you, Asgeir. Things that alarm me, to put it lightly. I can even feel that you're losing the respect we once had for you, even after you were voted to keep your hood. Can you even be sure that condensing all our arms to this place is the smartest idea?"

I took a step towards them. Matthew tensed up, and I swore I saw him start to reach for his gun. I looked down at his hand at his hip, then at him dead in the eyes, narrowing mine. Then back at Keaton.

"How often have you been to Arendelle, Keaton? Eh?"

"Three times before it was frozen over. I even met your lovely sisters during the third time. Good souls, they were."

"Right." I replied. "Do you know what Ingrid did to me and Anna?"

I looked around the room to make sure that everyone was listening to me. They were. Even the novices working at the computers.

"The Southern Isle shite, Hans thought that it would be the ideal time to strike on Arendelle when Anna and I left the kingdom. Unprotected without me looking over it, he thought. And he was so desperate to make sure he could take out Elsa, that he sought the urn that brought all this shit upon us. That…_ thing _that came out of that urn had lost every bit of sanity that she had left when my own mother sealed her in that urn. She came to believe that everyone that wasn't her or Elsa was going to try to kill her, and hit first against me and Anna. The freak blamed her for things our mother did, only because she _LOOKED _like her! And then she decided that she wouldn't kill us herself, but try to turn Elsa against us and have her kill us herself! I'm only glad that Elsa decided she would rather be sealed in that urn than try and sink to her level. But I am not glad that Ingrid would then go a step further and kill both them, and Troy and Rabbit."

I then got up on one of the chairs beside the table and pulled out my radio. Hitting the button, I spoke loud and clearly into it.

"All Assassins, this is Reaper. I know you all are aware that with one threat down, another is on the way. But know this: Ingrid is not a threat. She is an _abomination_! Whatever you think you know about her is bullshit, and doesn't come anywhere near to how ruthless and insane she really is. I have seen her evil first hand, and I know what she intends to do. She said clear as day to me and Anna, that she was planning on using the Spell of Shattered Sight. What she wants is irrelevant. She will strike this town soon, and she will do the worst thing a soul could ever do.

"You all know the story of my grandfather, Norik Swortssen of Yurness. He was the one who finally killed King Xavier, which we all thought was because of how he was a Templar. But he was also punishing him for the worst crime anyone can commit aside from breaking the Tenets: Xavier had a brother of ours executed instead of killing him himself. We all owe it to our enemies to look at that person in the eyes and do the deed ourselves. It is that burden and obligation that makes us the ethical and the righteous. Ingrid will cripple this town, but she will not do it herself. She will use all of us to kill each other, and sit back, laughing as we all suffer. My grandfather, he even had a certain way he saw life. I don't know where he got it from, but he always though of our lives as a 'long walk and a short drop'. You walk your whole life as long as you can before that short drop to death.

"You know, I met a wise man during my time fighting a war in another realm in the last thirty years. Morality and laws bound him, but his laws were the right ones. And his words line the closest with our own: 'The one who passes the sentence swings the sword'. Ingrid will not do such a thing, and after trying to make my own sisters, who wouldn't harm a fly try to kill each other, I know that I can't let that pass anymore. Ingrid is out there, and she doesn't have the same morals as any Templar or Rogue Assassin. She _will target us first!_ And no one knows that more than me. I am the _only _one who will get to kill her, and no one else. And we will spend every second taking Ingrid one step closer on her long walk before I give her the short drop. Ingrid is here, and she will kill us. But she won't do it herself. She'll make us turn on each other, so we need to do what must be done to stop that. And it starts here; we start trusting each other again and stop casting votes about who gets to keep their hood and who doesn't. Ingrid doesn't care who still has their hood or doesn't. She will kill any Assassin that faces her, current or former.

"I know what we stand for; freedom. But we can't be free with that psycho running around out there. It's one of our ironies: We seek to open the minds of all, but we must follow the rules without question. So here come the new ones: Cormac's will lock down and be placed under constant guard until Ingrid is dead. No one will go in or out alone. No one leaves without a weapon on them. Only a short list of townsfolk will be allowed to come inside. The hands at the Outposts will empty their stockpiles and kill the locations before settling down here at Cormac's. And finally…" I paused for effect as I glared at Matthew. "If anyone tries to stop me from cutting Ingrid's head off, Assassins or townsfolk alike, they won't get the chance to even whimper for mercy."

* * *

I had stored most of my close belongings in the trunk in my room, and was now going over most of them. My old set of hooded armor from Arendelle, my first Hidden Blades, my magic whetstone, and Pick.

Pick, the sword that I had given to Anna so long ago. When Rumplestiltskin violated her innocence, she demanded I take it back and never place it into her hands again. I cursed myself so many times, thinking that if she hadn't given it back, she might have still been alive. And that was why I blamed Rumplestiltskin as well as Ingrid for my sisters' deaths. That, and I knew for a fact he had helped Ingrid in some way.

The door to my room opened, and Matthew walked in. I looked up, but said nothing as he sat in the cushioned chair by the tv set.

"That was… um… inspirational, Asgeir." He began. "You threatened everyone in the brotherhood in the process, but that was alright."

I only stared at him but then he smiled.

"You know, I always had the feeling in my mind after your father died; I wasn't cut out for this role as Mentor. He always seemed to know what to do next when I was his second in leadership, and he always had a plan. I was the one who should have died instead of him."

I got up with Pick in my hands and sat down on the bed. "But you weren't." I replied, placing it on my lap. "So what now?"

"Now I face the music. I won't excuse how I burned those pages, because what I did was wrong. Are you mad because of what they held? I know plenty of people would go mad at the mere thought of it all. How their Mentor knew the whole time."

I shook my head. "No." I said. "I'm not, surprisingly. Not anymore. I'm just shocked at how you never got around to telling me. How could you hide this from everyone in our branch for so long?"

Matthew crossed his hands as he sighed. "You're right, Asgeir. I shouldn't have hid the truth from everyone, even you. I mean, this goes beyond what the books of the history of our order even suggest. So many of us were taught by our Mentors to think of Shay as nothing but a traitor to the brotherhood, but it was us who betrayed him. The Colonial Branch, who corrupted and abused the Creed unjustly with their criminal activities."

"So why were we all taught how he ruthlessly killed the branch with no mercy when it was one of the biggest lies put into our ears?"

"I really can't say, Asgeir." He replied. "Maybe someone along the lines knew exactly why the previous Mentors for so many years altered the truth, but I think the biggest reason why your father and I jumped on that wagon and raised our recruits to think the same of Shay, is because in the end, he was a traitor to us, but not the way how our books suggest. He still killed brothers of ours, and Adéwalé was the worst one that he took down."

He got up. "You're right about one thing. There can't be anymore squabbling amongst us. But do you even know why I voted against you when your hood was on the line?"

I shrugged. "You knew that I knew your secret, and wanted me out of the way, didn't you?"

"Come now, Asgeir." He replied. "We won't get anywhere unless you start learning to trust me again." He paused. "Do you know what it means to be Mentor? The rules of our order state that a Mentor must be obeyed without question, and yet, so many of us do it all the time. Being Mentor means that everyone in your branch will second-guess you at one point or another. And you need to be ready for it, boy."

Ready for it? I don't-

"You really think I'd be doing this my whole life? Your father made it very clear to me that I was to make sure you would be the one to take my place should anything ever happen to me. And nothing has changed my mind, Asgeir. You're still a good Assassin, and you are still my first choice for my successor. But you need to understand what it means to have people second guess you."

"You voted against my hood to test me?" I said, bewildered.

"Not just me. Everyone who voted against your hood did so because I told them to."

"So if I'm Mentor…"

"What starts tomorrow will also serve as your trials as Mentor. You will be taking a larger role in this as we prepare to fight Ingrid. You'll need to be ready to make decisions that could mean life or death for your brothers at arms as well as yourself, and know how not everyone will agree with them. But the key to making those decisions is to stay true to yourself and never be the one who second guesses yourself. If a Mentor starts second guessing every decision he makes, that's it for us."

He got up, leaving me alone in my room.

I stared at Pick in my hands. I couldn't remember the last time I even thought of ever becoming Mentor. If I was being honest, after I killed Ingrid and George, I didn't mean to go on living. I wouldn't really have anyone else left to kill. One might argue that the Assassins outside Storybrooke in the real world were fighting a losing battle against Abstergo, but I thought that they wouldn't need me. They had gone on just fine without me for seven years. Once I killed Zelena today when everyone was celebrating, then all I had left to kill were Ingrid and George. What would there be left for me then? Nothing at all.

* * *

The party was in full swing by the time Jason, Zar, Rory and I made our way over. Everyone was either sitting or standing, drinking, laughing and talking. Red waved us over and we brought our seats over to the table in the front corner where David and Mary Margaret were with their newborn baby. Henry was reading a story to the baby out of his book.

"How's the little guy been since I swiped him from Zelena?"

David chuckled. "Ah, just the normalities of new parenthood. It's a new thing for both of us."

"Ain't that the truth." Red sniggered.

David then glanced at Rory. "Oh!" He said. "I must not have caught your name. Are you new in town?"

"Rory…O'Dre" He said as he stood up and shook David's hand. He was using a different name. "Newly released from a monkey under watermelon face 'erself."

"Irish, huh?" David said, noting his accent. "Belfast?"

"Hah." He replied. "No, but good guess. Dublin. You ever been?"

"Eh…" He sighed. "In this life I remember always wanting to go. Maybe one day when we decide to leave town."

"Absolutely, brother. Spent plenty of my time in Belfast. We're still tryin' to get our Northern brothers back with us."

"'And that's when the bandit leapt on top of the carriage and stole the Prince's jewels. As the Prince chased the thief on horseback through the treacherous forest.'" Henry was reading from the book. He stubbornly hadn't stopped reading when we came in and started talking, but he stopped when his mother and Hook came in.

"Really?" She asked. "I can't even hear the kid's name yet, but I have to hear this story again?"

"Well, my son should know where he comes from." David said.

"Are you sure you want the first thing he knows to be that his parents fell in love during an armed robbery?"

"I wasn't armed!" Snow protested.

"Except for a rock." Red replied.

"I still have the scar!" David added.

"Which healed!" Snow said to her husband. She looked down at her son, smiling. "But that's just how we met. It's not how we fell in love."

David nodded. "Yeah, that was a bit more complicated." He turned to the next page in the book, the illustration showing what he meant. "See? There were black knights when I saved your mother's life."

"Uh, I wouldn't flatter yourself, brother." I warned.

Snow only laughed, and turned to the next page. Her and David fighting off trolls on the bridge. I'd heard this story too many times from them. "Oh, and the attack on the troll bridge when I saved his!" She parried.

David rolled his eyes and smiled as he turned to the next one. A tug of war between those two with a book at the rope. "But it wasn't until I saw my mother's ring on her finger that I knew in my heart there was no other woman I would ever love." He smiled down on Snow.

"Oh, I wish you had told me then. We would have saved so much time."

"And a quicker war to go along with it." I said.

"Well, how could I?" David said. "I had to get to my wedding."

"Sorry?" Hook asked. "Have I missed something? You were previously betrothed, mate?"

"Aye. To Princess Abigail." I said. "That one there." I gestured over to the bar. The blonde was talking up with Granny.

"Although she's Kathryn here." Red said.

"King Midas' daughter?" Hook said. "The man who can turn anything to gold?"

David nodded.

"Why would you leave that opportunity?" Hook asked, mistakenly putting his foot in his mouth.

Emma lightly slapped him on the shoulder as Snow said "Hey!"

"Brother, you clearly never met Abigail." I said. "If you had back then, you'd know what I mean."

I'll say it: What a bitch.

"Well, what can I say?" David said. "My heart was destined for another."

"You just had to find her, first." Red sniggered. "She ran away and was living on a farm."

"Oh, it sounded like such a peaceful life at the time." Snow said. "Leave everyone and everything behind-"

"Well, like mother, like daughter." Hook muttered.

"Hook." Emma snapped.

Henry looked up at Emma. "What is he talking about?" He asked.

Emma looked around at us, feeling all the attention going to her decision. It made sense to me, and if she was leaving with her son, it would mean two less people for Ingrid to kill, and one less person standing in my way to slashing her open.

David looked at his daughter, then tried diverting the attention away. "Uh, should we read more stories?" He offered.

Regina had suddenly noticed what was going on and came over with Robin. "Actually, I'd like to know what the pirate _is_ talking about." She said.

"It's nothing." Emma tried to play off.

"You're not planning on going back to New York, are you?"

Henry shook his head. "Why would we go back to New York?"

Regina smiled at the boy. "You're not." She assured. "Right, Ms. Swan?"

"Actually, it's complicated." She replied.

"Why would we leave?" He asked. "This is our home,"

"Henry, this isn't the time or place."

"I think it is." Regina said.

"No, it's not!" Emma snapped. She turned and went out the door.

Hook gave a quick nod. "I'll talk to her." He said.

"Wait." Henry said. He closed the book and handed it to him. "Take this. It might help her remember where she belongs."

Hook headed out to catch up with Emma

David patted Henry on the shoulder. "It's gonna be alright." He said. "She's just stubborn like her m-"

Snow glared at her husband at what he was going to say. I chuckled.

Henry suddenly looked out the window behind me. "Uh, Grandpa?" He asked. "Look."

All eyes at the table looked out. A large column of fire, thousands of feet high was rising from far away.

"What the hell is that?" Jason said.

Rumplestiltskin and Belle had just walked in. "That is a problem." He said. "That light is from Zelena's time portal. It's open."

* * *

David, Regina, Robin, Belle, Rumplestiltskin and I headed straight for the sheriff's station. It took the old prune longer than us, because even though I had heard he had a limp from an old injury in the Ogre Wars, it was even worse when I shot him in the back of the knee. I kept a close eye on him as we walked into the station. To my horror, Zelena _was_ gone.

"Zelena!" David exclaimed. "She's gone."

"No! She was here when I left her." Regina protested.

"But if she escaped, that would explain the time portal."

"Belle, that can't have happened." I said. "Without her pendant, she can't have done anything to escape or even open that portal." Then I suddenly realized something. I glared at Rumplestiltskin. "Unless _you_ did something, imp!"

"Asgeir…" David warned.

Rumplestiltskin didn't even blink. "Well, I'm sorry but no." He said. "And even if I wanted to, Belle has my Dagger. She would certainly curb any homicidal tendencies."

Belle nodded to me. "It's true."

Shay appeared beside the snake. "Yah know he's shitting you. There is no way the Dark One would just hand his power over to anyone, even the one he loves. You have a Bullet with you, so you can end this right now and take him for stealing your vengeance."

I had my hands on my holster, but no one noticed. David then went to the TV set in the corner. "Well, if she escaped, let's find out how."

I noticed the cameras right above the set on the wall. I smirked as Rumplstiltskin shifted uncomfortably. "Wonderful." He muttered.

I sat on a desk nearby as the footage started up. But just as it was starting, I noticed something out the corner of my eye. Rumplestiltskin waved his hand towards the TV while the rest of them were watching the screen. It suddenly went static.

"What's that? What just happened?" Regina said.

David sighed. "Yeah, we could use an upgrade. Stupid Betamax…"

Even though I would agree about that statement, the real culprit was right behind them, and only I saw it.

The footage suddenly went back to normal. "Ah! Here we go!" David said as we watched Zelena. The footage showed her suddenly raise her hand above her head, and move it down towards her. She turned right into a porcelain figure of herself, before crumbling to dust. She was dead. But not by her hand, I knew. He had killed her earlier. But he used magic Photoshop on the footage right there to protect his sorry arse.

"Well, it seems her great escape was of a more permanent nature. I won't ask for an apology, Assassin." The Imp said.

"Good." I snapped back. "You won't get one."

Regina wasn't paying attention to me or Gold. "She must've had just enough residual magic to do herself in." She realized. "And when she did, when she was gone, the magic in her pendant had no thether. It was set free. Her last wish fulfilled."

"But how do we unfullfil it?" Robin asked her.

"Excellent question. But until we figure it out, no one should go near it. A trip to the past can have catastrophic repercussions."

* * *

Back at Granny's, Jason and Zar were chatting with Granny while Rory was with Red. As long as no one went close to the portal, it wouldn't be a problem. Yet I was more furious that Rumplestiltskin stole my vengeance from me. Zelena was mine, as were George, and Ingrid. And him as well. I just meant to me that I would have to make sure he didn't get in my way towards killing the last two before him. And I knew just how to do it.

"Asgeir!" Granny called. I went over to her and Jason and Zar. "Been talking with your friends, here. Glad to know my older brothers were part of your order if they were mostly good boys like you."

"The pleasure is ours, Granny." Jason replied. "We know of both your older brothers, and they were heroes among our kind."

David had been on his cell phone a few minutes ago, but he suddenly rushed over and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Asgeir, Emma's not answering her phone. I was trying to tell her about the portal. Can you try to find her? Or at the very least head over there to make sure she hasn't gone in yet?"

"Surely, David." I replied. "Jason, let's go!"

"Aye!" We headed out the door and for my pickup.

* * *

We were too late when we reached the barn. Emma and Hook were already reaching the door when it flew open and started to suck them closer and closer into it. I yelled out for them as we got out of the truck, but it was no use. Emma was grabbing onto Hook's leg as he had his hook nailed into the ground. Soon enough she couldn't hold on anymore, and fell through the portal. Hook said something to himself, and then fell through right after her. I started to chase after them, but started to feel dizzy. The barn started to swim before my eyes, and I fell to the ground as Jason yelled for me. I could see more visions change before me, and my memories of what had been, become something different.


	28. Chapter 28: There's No Place Like Home

Chapter 28: There's No Place Like Home

**A/N: Well, here we are. The end of Season 3. This was a great 2 hour episode when I first saw it, and I think that it was a good part for me to include Asgeir in for Season 3.5. Now comes the big battle. And as I said, with me working on the short Frye Twins fic, I won't be working on Faith for a while. I promise I will come back to it by New Year's or sooner, but I want to get this fic done by the end of the holidays. The reason is this: Some of my favorite stories about Victorian England take place close to Christmas, and my favourite Christmas story, A Christmas Carol takes place around that time. So, using elements in the fic I never finished with Asgeir around Christmas last year, I will be doing a special Christmas fic featuring the twins after they have taken down Crawford Starrick. First chapter should be coming soon! And as a bonus, there is a special epilogue chapter I wrote a few weeks ago right after this to set up what will happen next Sequence. Shay will become a POV character!**

* * *

"Stealing from a prince?" I said. "Shame on you, Snow. You should know better than to do that. Especially with Regina tearing this kingdom apart for you."

"It's what I need to do to get out of this kingdom, Asgeir. The pirate that has offered to smuggle me out of here wants this ring."

I had been hunting that afternoon when Snow had found me and given me the offer. There was a Prince close by that had a special ring, and that was the price for a one-way ticket out of this place.

"You're a skilled thief." I said. "Why do you need my help?"

"The Prince is currently staying at his future father in-law's summer palace. I need someone to watch my back, because the walls are said to be near impregnable."

I still wasn't convinced. "But you told me that you don't believe in killing people. If I were to go with you, I can't guarantee I'll take anyone alive."

Snow sighed. "I know, Asgeir. But you're the only one that I know that can get in and out of a castle like that. Please."

I sheathed my sword. I had it drawn when she caught me by surprise a few minutes ago. "Alright. But if I am about to kill anyone, you don't stop me."

"Fine."

"Now, who is it that we are robbing?"

"Prince James. He's currently at King Midas' summer palace."

I gulped. She meant David, my old friend. "Alright then." I said, smiling. "Let's get to it."

* * *

We had reached the castle by nightfall. It amazed me how gold the castle was as Snow shot her grappling rope up onto the wall, and I climbed up with my Rope Blades. When we reached the top, we headed for the door into the castle. I heard voices in the courtyard below as Snow explained.

"Prince James and Princess Abigail are having a ball to celebrate their engagement." She said. "It makes it easier for us to get the ring with most of the guards near the ballroom."

"Still need to be careful." I replied.

There were no guards by the time we got to the bedchambers. As Snow went for the trunk to start looking through for the ring, I shot my Rope Blade and climbed up into the rafters.

"I'll keep watch from above, Snow. If someone does come, they won't expect me to drop down from indoors."

"Sounds good." She replied. "I'll have that ring before we know it."

She started tossing various objects from the trunk as she rooted through it. This was wrong, as I knew very well. Stealing from the only inside man we had left with the Templars. But as long as David never saw my face here, he would have no reason to blame me for the theft.

Snow finally grabbed a small leather pouch from the trunk, and opened it. She pulled out the ring, a small gold engagement one with an emerald, or peridot. Could never truly understand the difference.

"My ticket to freedom." She breathed as she looked at it.

She spoke too soon. The door opened and I saw David walk in right below me. He eyed Snow, and took a step forwards.

"Who are you?" He questioned.

Snow jumped and rushed for the window.

"Stop, thief!"

He tackled her and pinned her to the ground while I remained hidden up above. It was all about timing here, and this was not the right time. She could take him.

I assumed right. David turned her over to face him, and was stunned.

"You're a…girl!" He exclaimed.

Snow grinned. "Woman." She corrected as she grabbed a small jewelry box close by and smacked him in the chin with it. She got up and opened the window as David groaned.

"James what is taking you so long!" I heard a whiny voice cry out.

I smirked. _Now_ I could do something I had been asked to do months ago. Scare someone from this marriage.

Snow looked back at Abigail when she was in the doorway, and smiled.

"You're…Snow White!" She cried.

I dropped down from above and stood right in front of her, my hood hiding my face under it's shadow.

"You really should be more worried 'bout me, little birdie!" I said in my best gravelly London accent.

Abigail screamed when she realized who I was. She started to run, but she didn't get far. She had made it just outside the tower onto the wall when I caught her.

I grabbed her by the neck and started pulling her to the edge of the wall.

"Please! Don't do this, Reaper! My father can pay! He can turn anything to gold! You know my father!"

I laughed. "You think I care 'bout gold?!" I sneered, still in my fake voice. Best to have my surviving victims think that the White Reaper had a different accent than my real one. "No, I don't. You fucking royals 'ave enough of it already. I'd prefer it if you did a little favor for me instead."

I pushed her onto the half wall, dangling over the edge of the castle walls.

Abigail whimpered. As if I was actually going to do it.

"You're going to say some things to your father. This match between you and ol' Prince Jimbo is attracting you some unwanted attention from people like me! You're going to call it off and say that it wasn't going to work despite everything and there should be no 'ard feelings for King George and Jimmy. And then you're going to show Georgie this symbol." I pointed to the insignia on one of the buckles on my hood. Then for good measure, I extended my blade, just barely brushing up against Abigail's nose to make it clear what she would get if she didn't.

She got the message. She cried and squirmed.

"Please don't kill me! I'll do as you ask! Please! I will do it!" She kept whining and whining.

I rolled my eyes and put both my hands on the collar of her dress. "Oh, shut up." I said, finally. I slammed my head right into her nose, knocking her out.

As she fell to the ground, unconscious, I looked down into the woods below. Snow had made her escape, and was riding away. I gave a quick wave as she rode away, but a sharp pain in my back cut me off.

"I have the Reaper! HE'S MURDERED THE PRINCESS" A guard behind me yelled. He had stabbed me in the back. "HE'S OVER HERE!"

I groaned and kicked backwards, hitting the guard in the chest. I spun around and extended my blades.

"You murdered our fair princess, Assassin!" He said, seeing how bloody Abigail's face was.

"She's _unconscious_. Can't say the same for you, twenty seconds from now."

The guard desperately tried to stop me as I grabbed him by the neck and brought my blade close to his throat.

"Drop your weapons, Assassin!"

I looked over to my sides. King Midas and his guards were walking towards me with their crossbows out on my left, and further more guards on my right.

"What do we do with him, Your Majesty?" The guard to his side asked.

"You take him to the dungeons!" He snarled. "He will pay for assaulting my daughter!"

I still held the guard at my throat, but then I realized someone else I could threaten Midas with. I went for his daughter.

"No!" He cried.

I hoisted Abigail's unconscious body up and held her in front of me with my blade to her neck. Yes, I was bluffing, but he didn't know that. "You'll let me go, Your Majesty!" I cried out in my gravelly voice. "Or I'll reap what you admit you love more than all your precious gold!"

Midas held his hands up. "Easy, Assassin!" He murmured as he tried approaching us. "Easy. What do you want from me other than your freedom?"

"This match between your daughter and Prince James is attracting people like me. Call it off or I'll come back to finish the job!"

"Be quiet, Assassin!"

I suddenly felt like my hands were being tied together by invisible rope as I started floating in the air. When the force holding me up turned me around, I saw what held me.

"The Evil Queen Regina!" I gasped. "A pleasure."

She chuckled as she walked towards me from among the guards, her hand raised to my throat. "Not as much as it is for me. King George told me himself that he killed you months ago. Simply incredible how you could come back from being burned alive and tossed into the lake. Are you some wraith in human form?"

I was going dizzy from the pressure on my neck. "No." I wheezed. "I'm the thing that wraiths check under their bed for when they go to sleep."

I fell to the ground, completely gone.

* * *

"-saw it myself! My son stabbed him in the back, then we burned his body and tossed what remained into the lake!"

I couldn't move or talk. I was in another iron maiden like the one Ingrid had me welded into, except the only opening it had was one for my eyes. They had me lying on the ground, or a wagon as King George and Regina looked down on me.

"Clearly you didn't do a good enough job if he's alive enough to attack Midas' daughter! Guards! Take him to the castle! He dies tomorrow."

* * *

It was a long journey to Regina's castle. I couldn't see anything aside from the sky as I was wheeled through the woods on the trip over.

When I first saw the indoors, it looked to be the dirty and rusted ceiling of a dungeon. They wheeled me into a cell, then two big guards lifted me and hung me upside down on a chain, just like the last time. I could only see out the front of the cell, but I could hear voices. One I recognized from long ago, and the other I had no idea.

"What's that?" I heard the first say.

"It's my parents'" the other whispered.

"And they entrusted you with it?"

There was no doubt in my mind now. The voice I knew belonged to Marian, Robin's wife. A fair maid to the court she lived with, but just a deadly fighter as her husband. She recently had had her first child with him as well. Little boy by the name of Roland. But if I was hearing her voice, it meant that perhaps Regina had caught wind of her affiliation with the Assassins and had her thrown here to punish her husband.

"Sort of." The other woman replied. "I need to get it back to them."

"Being away from family is a terrible, terrible thing." Marian said.

"Yeah it is."

"The longer I'm separated from them, the pain doesn't dull. It worsens. Maybe, cause I know I'll never see them again."

The blood seemed to rush to my head even faster in my anger. Marian was now in the same boat I was, except she was the one who was going to die. I knew I'd never see either Elsa or Anna ever again, but I would not let any Templar sorceress stop me from taking down that freak, Ingrid.

"If my mom was here, she would tell me to have hope. Maybe you should, too." The woman said. "Who knows? Maybe you will end up with them again."

I still could only see right in front of me, but I was hearing the voice ever so faintly to my left. The iron maiden was keeping a lot of noise from outside it getting in, but I could still just barely make out the voices.

"I don't think so." Marian replied. "I'm fairly certain they already thing I'm dead. And soon, that'll be true."

For both of them, not me. Regina could try for as much as she could to kill me, but it would never work. All anyone could really kill that was left of me was my spirit, and that was still going strong.

"Maybe not. Give me your spoon." I heard the woman say.

Her spoon?

"What are you doing?"

"It's all about the tumblers…" She replied.

Tumblers? That was a pretty modern term to describe the workings of a door lock. Unless…

I heard a click and swinging of the cell door. Whoever this woman was, she had opened the door.

"You did it!" I heard Marian cry, happily.

A moment passed, and Marian was becoming worried. "What are you waiting for? Go! Get out of here! Go!"

I heard more clicking, and another cell door opened. The woman was getting Marian out of the cell.

As they ran out of their cells, I tried calling out for them. I swung the maiden as much as I could, and Marian noticed me in the cell.

"Who's that?" The woman asked.

"I'm not sure. But he should be very dangerous if he's in a cell like that!"

She kneeled down to look at me closer. When she caught my eye, realization filled hers, and she turned to the woman.

"Please get him out of here! He may be considered one of the Enchanted Forest's most dangerous criminals alive, but he doesn't deserve what the Evil Queen will do to him!"

I could feel the woman nod as she opened the cell door with her lockpick. She walked over to the maiden and started to examine the chain.

"It's too thick. Nothing I have on me with open it."

"Swan?"

I heard a man's voice this time.

"Hook!"

"What the hell are you doing? You're depriving me of a dashing rescue!"

"Sorry." The 'Swan' woman replied. "The only one who saves me is me."

"What's going on here?" It was David's voice.

"We don't have something strong enough to break open the maiden or the chain." Marian said.

Suddenly, I heard a growl and a roar as something slammed right into the maiden. Whatever it was, it climbed up onto the top of it and clawed at the chain. The whole thing fell to the ground within seconds, and the maiden broke like almond brittle once the chain was gone.

I gasped as the shadow of a large dog suddenly forced itself into my face. It growled and snapped at me, before starting to lick my face.

I laughed. "Red! Enough!" I gasped. "Thanks!"

The man that I didn't know threw Red's hood over her, and she turned back into her human form. As I stood up, the blonde 'Swan' woman smiled.

"Asgeir!" She said,

I was confused "Sorry, lass." I replied. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, uh. No." She replied. "I'm Princess Leia."

I only chuckled. "Alright then." As I walked out of the cell, I whispered to her. "Bullshit."

I had seen the movie. It was clear to me from that alias that she was from the Land Without Magic.

"I'm not gonna be around much longer unless we find where this belongs to." She pulled a ring off of her finger. _The_ ring that had ended up landing me here in the dungeon.

"I think that belongs to me!" David said, taking the ring away from Leia.

"You guys have a way out of here?"

"Follow me." Red replied. "Snow told me where to meet her."

Marian smiled at Leia as she passed her. 'Thank you, Leia." She said.

She and I both gave each other a look of what needed to happen. Despite her being broken out of prison, and safe from harms' way for now, I couldn't tell anyone who Marian was, especially with these two people I had no idea who they were, but seemed to know plenty about me and the others.

* * *

The six of us headed out of the dungeon and started through the winding hallways of Regina's fortress. As we reached an end that split the hallway going in opposite directions, the 'Hook' man looked down out the window."

"What is it?" Leia asked. "Did you find Snow?"

"I'm afraid so."

I ran over the window, and my breath caught in my lungs. "No!" I whispered.

Snow was being tied to a large stake in the courtyard above a pile of wood. Regina stood before her, no doubt smiling, despite her back towards the window.

"We have to get down there before it's too late!" Leia cried.

"I don't think we can." David replied.

I could see her down there. Snow wasn't crying or begging to be released. She just seemed to have accepted her fate and was preparing for what awaited her.

The memories came back to me. First my father, appearing to notice me on that hilltop as I saw everyone in the town square yell and jeer at him as his neck was brought to the chopping block and Agdar taking it off with his greatsword.

Elsa, refusing to kill Anna despite all the things she was saying, and what she was going to do. Remaining faithful where that monster who had tried to manipulate her had lost it. Being sucked into that urn for that.

And Anna, Troy, Rabbit and Kristoff. The last people I had standing beside me when Ingrid made her last move that would send her to the top of my list.

Now this. Snow, one of my closest friends ever since Arendelle froze. I could only watch in horror as Regina summoned a ball of fire in her hand, and sent it flying into the wood, burning Snow alive at the stake.

She had been just a regular Templar queen in my books before, but now she had been moved to the list.

* * *

Splinters flew as I slammed my sword against the tree for the thousandth time in the last fifteen minutes. All I could do was yell and cry and do my best to pretend the tree was Regina's neck. Red had gone off to howl at the moon for a while, and I knew Leia and her Prince Charles (yet another sign they were not from here. How did they even get here?) were sitting by the fire. David was tending to the wagon they had commandeered to help us escape with.

I slammed my cutlass into the tree so hard; I could seem to pull it out. I groaned angrily, and dropped my other one, and put both my hands around it to try and pry it out. As I did, I felt a tickling in my ear, and heard a buzzing. A bee, or some other bug. I batted my ear and felt it fly away, then went back to work on trying to get my sword out of the tree. As soon as I got it out, I heard David yell.

"Wait! Don't harm that thing!"

I ran back to the campfire as Red returned as well. David had noticed a ladybug that had landed on Leia's shoulder that Charles was just about to swat.

"When we were coming to rescue you, Snow told me what her dust would do to the Queen." David said as he approached Leia slowly to get the bug off her shoulder. "She said it would turn her into a form that could easily be squashed. A bug!" He plucked the ladybug off her shoulder and looked at it on her finger.

"You think Snow turned herself into that?" Leia said, doubtfully.

"How can you be sure, James?" I asked as well.

"If she timed it right, she could have escaped that fireball. Faked her death, and flown away." David said. "Asgeir knows a thing or two about that." He looked closer at the bug. "Yeah, that's her. Just need to find a way to bring her back."

We heard the ladybug buzz quite loudly.

"She's saying something." I realized.

"Wonderful." Charles sighed. "Anyone fluent in bug?"

"She's calling for me."

I turned my back at the voice. I could not even stand to look at the Blue Fairy ever since she had clipped Tink's wings. I could feel her float down, ignoring me and focusing on the others.

"Blue!" Leia exclaimed. Did she know her too?"

"That's right." She replied. "And you are?"

"Leia."

"No." She chuckled. "That's not it. But your secrets can be yours. I sense it's better that way."

"Yeah, no shit." I muttered.

"Can you bring Snow back?" Red asked.

"Dark magic did this to her." The Blue Fairy said. "Light magic can undo it."

Right! So easy! She has no problem with helping those she deems worthy of her bullshit rules. Makes total sense! She raised her wand and light rushed from it to the ladybug. The bug glowed and in an instant, turned back into Snow. David laughed in triumph as I grinned. Weirdly, Leia suddenly jumped over and hugged Snow.

"You're alive!" She cried.

Snow looked at her strangely, but then she pulled away.

"It would appear so." She replied, still shaken by that awkward exchange. "Thank you." She said.

"Snow!" Red cried as we came for her.

"Red!" She exclaimed as she hugged her friend. "I'm so glad to see you!" She noticed me. "And Asgeir! You're alive as well!"

"Don't ever ask for my help like that again, my old friend." I laughed as she hugged me. "Iron maidens are terribly uncomfortable."

* * *

The next morning, I was getting ready to head out.

"You sure you can't stay with me any longer?" Snow asked as Red and I were getting ready to head out. "Swords at our sides, the long road ahead."

"Gotta keep moving, Snow." I replied. "But I'll keep an eye on the cabin in case you ever fancy going back there."

"I'm not sure." She replied. "I might find another kingdom to hide in. You know of any place good?"

"Want somewhere warm? Try Corona." I replied. "Although I can't really go there. The brotherhood there doesn't think too highly of me."

"I'll consider there." She pulled me in for a hug. "Oh, I'll miss you, Asgeir. You're the closest thing I have to a brother."

"Aye." I replied. "That I am."

As I was about to leave, I realized I was missing something. "Ah, shit." I exclaimed. "Forgot my ammo pouch."

I walked back to camp alone as Snow headed down to the river to fill her canteen. I found my pouch on one of the logs, but as I was leaving, Leia stopped me.

"We need to talk, Asgeir."

"Aye, I think that we do." I replied. "You're not fooling me, love. I know you're from the Land Without Magic. Nice alias, by the way."

"How do you… never mind." She said. "I will just tell you as best I can. You don't know me, but you will. We're from the future."

"No kidding?" I replied. "How long it took for them to make a time machine?"

"No, it's not that." She said. "It's a spell. One that took us back in time to now. And you take the news well, I might add."

"If you had seen the things that I had seen, time travel would never shake you. And so I know you in the future?" I asked. "Don't tell me your real names for the sake of not fucking up the timeline."

"Agreed." She said. "But more on her." She pointed to Marian, who had her back turned to us. "She was supposed to die hours ago. I need you to not tell anyone she knows that she lived so that the timeline doesn't get messed up any further."

I shook my head. "I'm not saying no to that, lass. But I don't think it will be an easy fix. I'll look into trying to get a forgetting potion. Better I forget she lived than spend a lifetime lying to her family."

"Fine." She replied. "Just do what you can."

I tucked my pouch into my belt and gave Leia a quick nod. "You better find a way to get back to your time soon enough, lady. Else things might get screwed up even further."

"Don't worry. We have that taken care of." She replied. Then she looked at me strangely. "You know, you're different now. Something happened to you between now and when we met."

I raised my hood. "Whatever it is, telling me what it was will only make things worse."

"That's the thing: I don't know _what._" She said.

"Then it's best kept that way." I replied. "Uh, goodbye 'Princess Leia'. May the Force be you, I guess?"

Leia smiled. "Doesn't your order say 'Nothing is True'?"

That caught me off guard, but I only smiled. She and I must have been close friends one day if she knew of the Assassins. "'Everything is Permitted'." I replied, setting off into the woods for another day of fighting.

* * *

I think I was out for about two seconds, because almost as soon as I fell to the ground, I was awake again. Emma and Hook and their captive were suddenly flying out of the portal, which closed behind them, and I felt the memories connect there. They were Leia and Charles all along. And Marian. She was still alive! I could remember it all even after drinking a potion to forget it all!

"Oh god!." She groaned. "Hey, do me a favor. Fill her in. Make sure she doesn't freak out." She said to Hook.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I have some people I need to see!" She said. She grinned at Jason and me as she passed us. "Asgeir!"

"Princess Leia!" I shot back, grinning.

Jason looked at me strangely as Emma got into her car and drove away. "What's that about?"

I shook my head. "Ah, the Force works in mysterious ways." I only said. "I'll tell you later."

Hook hoisted Marian's unconscious body up over his shoulder. "Spre a ride back into town, mate?" He asked me.

I nodded my head to the pickup. "Throw her in the backseat and get in."

As Hook carried her past us, I heard a whispering; The whispers of my Sight. My first thoughts were Ingrid was close by, so I focused my Sight. I was alarmed when I noticed who was really glowing red: Marian. Something was different about her, and she still glowed red as Hook opened the door of the backseat to my pickup, and placed her inside before clambering in himself.

"Hey! Asgeir!" Jason said as he was walking for the truck. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…" I replied hesitantly. "I'm not sure." I said, mostly to myself as I climbed in.

* * *

When we got back to the diner, Emma was laughing and talking happily with her family. She was showing them the pages in the book that had been added due to her trip through time.

"A fairy tale princess at last!" She beamed.

Emma then grinned. "And as my first princessly request, I would like to know the name of the baby."

Oh, finally!

"Right, that." David smirked. He stood up and held his pint up. "Uh, excuse me! If I could have everyone's attention." He called, and everyone settled down. "This coronation ceremony is something we looked forward to for a very long time. The arrival of our son has been a cause of great joy for our family. And we hope you can share in it as we name him for a hero." David sighed, mist in his eyes. "Someone who saved… every one of us. We loved him and he loved us back."

I beamed as tears came to my eyes. Named for a brother, a friend, and an Assassin.

"People of Storybrooke…" Snow began. "It is our great joy to introduce you to our son, Prince…Neil."

Jason and I applauded along with the rest of the diner. Rory got up from his seat as I walked over, Jason heading back to talk with Zar and Matthew, who had gotten here while we were gone.

"It's so nice to meet you, Neil." Emma cooed to her new brother.

I could have sworn I saw the little baby wave in reply.

"Congratulations, you two." I said to the happy couple.

"Yes, indeed." Rory said. "May I say a prayer for the little prince?"

"Of course, Rory." David replied.

He kneeled down to Snow and the baby, and whispered it. I didn't understand it, though; he said it in Irish.

"_Is féidir leis an bóthar ardú suas chun bualadh leat . Is féidir leis an ghaoth a bheith i gcónaí ag do chúl . Go dtaitní an ghrian go bog bláth ar do aghaidh ; titim an bháisteach bog ar do ghoirt agus go dtí go gcasfar le chéile sinn arís , Dia a shealbhú tú ar an dtearmann a lámh_ ."

"It's an old one where I come from." He said as he got up. "I might say what it means one day…"

As the table went back to chatting, I saw Regina and Robin walk in. I then realized what it meant, but it was too late for me to stop it. Marian was alive and kicking as far as I could tell, and even though she was glowing red to me for some reason, she was back from the dead.

Emma got up to introduce Regina to Marian, but what followed was not pretty.

Robin noticed his long dead wife. "Marian?" He cried standing up from the table he had just sat at. "Marian!"

"Robin!" She gasped, rushing over and embracing him.

"I thought you were dead!" He exclaimed. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"And I you!" She replied.

Roland just noticed his own mother, now. "Mama?" He asked.

Marian grinned as she knelt down and hugged her little boy. "Roland! Oh, my baby, Roland!"

Regina had been at a loss for words. Then she turned on Emma. "You!" She snarled. "You did this!"

Emma was just as shocked as her. I wondered then if I could have done something back then to stop this from happening. Marian had been destined to die, and she _had_ been. Now she wasn't even when Robin and his family had moved on and he was now with Regina.

"I…just wanted to save her life." Emma said.

"You're just like your mother." Regina snapped. "Never thinking of consequences."

"I didn't know."

"Oh, of course you didn't." Regina replied. "Well, you just better hope to hell you didn't bring anything else back."

Rory stood up. "C'mon, brother." He said to me. "This is gonna to go bad and I'd rather not be here."

"Agreed." I replied, heading past Regina and straight for the door. "Assassins, we're leaving!" I said to the others. Jason, Zar, Matthew, Rory and I headed out the door. We had work to do.

* * *

Matthew had brought up blueprints of Cormac's and marked them how we were preparing the defenses. "We found two sentry guns at one of the Outposts, so we set them here." He marked two X's near the front entrance. "Also we took back the sentry guns that the Merry Men borrowed from us a few weeks back, so we'll set them up soon enough. We'll have snipers on 24 hour watch from now until Ingrid dies, and in case of extreme emergencies, The Bunker has lockdown protocols in place. They were installed when we built it during the Curse."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nothing much except that we are locking down in 1 hour from now." He said. "Whatever you want to get done outside here, I suggest you get done, now."

The only thing that came to mind, I did in that instant. I took out my phone and sent texts to Red and Cindy.

"Cormac's is locking down for what is coming. If you still want to help us, pack everything that you need and come to the inn. We'll find rooms for you."

* * *

Red came twenty minutes later with her bag, and Cindy ten minutes afterwards with her husband, Thomas and her baby girl, Alexandra with their stuff.

"Thomas." I said, shaking his hand. "Glad to have you with us."

"I couldn't leave Ashley alone with the baby. She gave me the short answer as to what the Assassins are doing by locking down the pub, and if she's in, I'm in too."

"Good. You're here because the next few weeks are going to bring some heat to the Assassins, and because you're family. We don't want to see any of our family get hurt."

Kevan came up to us from behind the bar. "Help you folks out with anything?" He asked.

"Kevan, set them up with two rooms in the inn. We lock down in thirty minutes." "Excellent. A lot of our field troops have taken most of our rooms, but we should have two more at least. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much, Kevan." Red replied. "In the meantime, I wouldn't mind a drink."

Kevan got her a glass and while she ordered her drink, Rory came out of the kitchens from the Bunker with Jason and Zar.

"Last chance to go outside for a while, Asgeir." He said, holding up a six pack of Guinness."Make the most of it?"

* * *

Fifteen million, seven hundred and seventy eight thousand, four hundred and sixty three. That's how many minutes are in thirty years. Thirty, long, hard years. I waited and used them doing little aside from hunting and killing Templars, and searching for any lead, any clue where Ingrid could have been. Wallowing in my hatred for her, and how I would make her pay for everything that she had done to me, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Troy, Rabbit, and even my Templar mother. And now she was here. In the town of Storybrooke, Maine. I could see her quaint little shop that I was looking forward to burning to the ground just like Zelena's cottage, from the bed of my pickup. A flamethrower, or even a Molotov. One toss, and boom. Nothing but ashes.

Cormac's had a small parking lot beside it, and every transport van used by our troops, and every other car owned by the Assassins was now crammed inside it. Only a barbed wire fence would protect the vehicles when lockdown would be initiated, but the snipers would make sure no one would go behind them once the fence closed as well. We had gone as all out as we could. We had no idea how powerful Ingrid was, but hopefully our guns and steel could match her ice. Rory, Jason, Zar and I sat in the bed of my pickup as we drank our beers.

"Night's pretty cold." Jason said, breaking the silence.

I didn't laugh. "It's going to get colder still, with Zelena out of the picture." I replied."It's long past time we finish what we started."

"Amen." Zar said.

"Cheer up, lads." Rory replied. "We faced and survived the feckin' Wicked Witch of the West. We can take down Blondie the Snow Queen."

As long as there is no hesistation, and no mercy.

"I think we should at least have a toast here." Zar said.

"Aye." Jason replied. "To the Creed."

"And to wishing we were someplace warmer!" Rory added.

The three of them laughed as I chuckled a little bit. It was funny a little, but it felt more like laughs of fear to me. Because we all had every reason to be afraid of Ingrid.

Zar sighed. "We may never see Arendelle again, will we?"

I shook my head. I was the last person alive to escape Arendelle's freezing, and even to this day, I still had no idea how I wasn't frozen while Anna and the others were. "Ingrid froze it all at least ten times as worse than when it happened with Elsa. All that remains of Arendelle and her Northern beauty are the refugees living in Corona, and us. But our chances for suvival are thinner than the sharpest blade."

"Then I guess we better make the most out of this." Jason said. "It wasn't enough to take her down with you, Troy, and Rabbit, Asgeir. Hell, it may not be enough with all the might of the Arendelle and Enchanted Forest Assassins combined. But at least we'll give that bitch a fight."

He sat up and jumped down off my truck. "Lockdown initiates in ten minutes. We better get inside soon."

Zar nodded. "I'm heading back in, too." He said. "Good night, guys."

"Good night." I replied along with Rory. Soon enough it was only him and I out at my truck.

"Rory O'Dre?" I asked, out of the blue to him.

Rory chuckled. "After me mam's maiden name. If I'm to help you out with all this, Asgeir. Fightin' Ingrid, stoppin' George, and then headin' out there into the big world to take on Abstergo, I'll need a new name. I was high on the Templar's most wanted list for a long time, but now they think I'm dead. It makes things a lot easier to fight them."

"Yeah, don't I know it." I replied, taking a long swig of my beer.

Rory glanced at me. "I know what the rest of those pages will reveal, Asgeir. What happened after Shay killed Charles Dorian. I don't need to read any further."

"Then you know why I hate Ingrid just as much as I do."

"Aye. The Spell of Shattered Sight revealed to you everything through it's pain."

"It did more than that." I said. "I can see him. The ghost of Shay. He spends his time taunting and torturing me with the memories of it all."

"And tryin' to ignore it all is only gonna kill you even faster, lad." Shay chuckled.

Rory looked where I was, where Shay was standing, then back at me. "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"What's he saying?"

"Ignoring it all is only going to kill me faster. Because it is."

"What are you talkin' about, brother?"

I looked back at Rory. I was keeping track, and we had five minutes left before the pub locked down completely. Not enough time to explain. "Go to bed, Rory." I said. "I'll tell you more about it in the morning."

**Cue "Nothing Left To Say" by Imagine Dragons**

He looked at me doubtfully, then nodded and got up from my truck and jumped out. Soon enough I was alone out by my truck. I took a long drink, finishing off my beer before tossing the can over the fence towards the town. It rattled loudly as it bounced off the pavement and down the street towards that little ice cream hovel. Then I took out a cigarette and lit it. I had just enough time for it.

"It wasn't enough to curse me with the worst cancer of all: knowledge, But then I have to realize something in my nightmares of seeing your stupid face every night." I whispered, taking a long drag off it. "The ice in my heart from you? I'm dying from it. It's killing me slowly and painfully every day, and I know that unless I kill you, it will spread through my body until it finishes me off in the worst way it can. My hair hasn't started to change yet, but I know it will. And I know that I will soon be as dead as a fly. So let's finish this, you fucking whore. Let's finish what we started."

As if she could hear me, I felt the wind pick up a little, and blow right at me. Then I saw something flutter through the air. It was small and white, and floated in front of my eye for a few seconds before settling down on my cheek right below my eye, and melting into water. I scowled, and tossed my cigarette butt out of my truck before jumping out and crushing it with my foot. Then I walked out of the parking lot and inside just as the gates to the lot started to close, the locks turned on, and the sentry guns went online. Cormac's was now in full lockdown for the coming storm.

I had only my mission left. The only thing keeping me alive was my ever growing need for revenge on Ingrid. I didn't care now if it meant getting my hood back, killing her. I had nothing left to live for once my list would be clear. Either way, I would be dead by the end of all this. Everything was coming together, and now the only thing keeping my fire of life alive was now in her home, beginning her plot to destroy Storybrooke. The only thing keeping me alive was now ready to be taken down, and I would be the only one to do it.

Outside the town was shutting down for the night. Cormac's security doors were being set up, the doors getting double locked and a guard placed at every entrance. Even the party at Granny's was wrapping up, clearly needing to after what had happened not an hour ago. What I didn't notice, what the _town_ didn't notice, was that as the clock tower tolled for midnight, something changed. Among all the places and parts of the town, the people, the buildings, shops, businesses, forests, and other sights, the first sign of the oncoming storm arrived. Every thermometer in town felt it as a new arrival walked out of the barn that we had thought was abandoned ever since me, Jason, Emma and Hook had left it behind. And every thermometer in town could only do one thing as the girl in the ice dress walked out of the barn. At midnight, on March 14th, 2013, the temperature of Storybrooke, Maine dropped one degree.

* * *

My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. I am an Assassin


	29. Chapter 29: Sequence 2 Epilogue

**A/N: When I introduced Shay into this story after playing Rogue, I knew that I would be continuing his story after the end of the game. So it just was a natural fit when I decided that this chapter would be the epilogue for Sequence 2. Now those who haven't played Rogue, this is your Spoiler Alert. This chapter IS the ending to Assassin's Creed: Rogue, and from here on out you are responsible for spoiling the ending yourself. Although, let's face it, after the game being out for over a year, you either should have played it already, watched a walkthough online, or really don't care. I am so glad to have reached this part, as now I will be hitting the ground running once my fic with the Frye Twins finishes up this Christmas. Hope you like this little epilogue I adapted from the game, and have yourself a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy New Year! "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukah." XD**

* * *

Chapter 29: Sequence 2 Epilogue- A Different Kind of Revolution

**Paris: December 1776**

Years of searching for that blasted box brought me across the Atlantic. I had never seen Europe this far east before. I had only previously gone to this side of the world to meet with my brothers in Dublin. Glad to have seen where my heritage had came from.

Master Kenway had said that our spies had reported this being the area where Franklin had been staying for his time in Paris. Now all I had to do was find him.

Running across the roof I jumped over the alleyway to the next building, then slid down into the streets below. I turned right onto a smaller side street, listening with my Sight for the whispers to guide me to Franklin. But I got something far better when I saw several criminals conversing. My French was quite rusty, but I could make out what they were saying.

"So? Did you find him?"

"Yes. Benjamin Franklin is at Notre Dame. If we hurry up, we can catch him."

"So stop playing with yourselves! Let's go!"

"Not while I'm still breathin'" I huffed. As the three of them charged down the alleyway onto the main road towards Notre Dame, I started off after one of them.

The first one I got while he was trying to climb a building not long after he realized I was following him. The second I got jumping off that same building into the streets below, landing right on top of him. And the third I caught right in the middle of the public square, slashing his throat clean in half and letting him bleed out. As I finished with him, I heard more shouting. I looked up and saw two more criminals chasing after him. He was significantly older with grayer hair, but there was no doubt it was him. Benjamin Franklin.

"OVER THERE! GET HIM!" Their leader shouted.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Franklin cried.

My last victim wouldn't be needing his flintlocks anymore, so I grabbed them off his corpse before getting up and making chase.

* * *

They brought him into a darker alley than the one before and held him down while they beat him. It boiled my blood to see how the Assassins had the nerve to call us ruthless, and then do things like this to good men like Franklin.

I looked down on the chaos from above as Franklin pleaded with them.

"_Arretez! _What are you doing?! I have no quarrel with you!"

Two of them were keeping watch. I dropped down from above while his torturer laughed.

"You uncultured swine!" He trilled with his local accent. "You should not 'ave left your backwater colony!"

"_Oui! Allez tous nos Boston!_"

I started slowly towards them while their backs were turned. I didn't want to alert them just yet.

"Uh, Philadelphia, actually!" Franklin corrected them, still frightened.

"Oh! So 'ee eez a comedien, too!" He laughed as he began again, causing Franklin to call for help again. Glad to have been in reach, because he got just that. I came up behind them and extended my blades, putting them both through the backs of their heads. Franklin stared back at me in amazement, his spectacles hanging just off his nose as his attackers fell to the ground.

"Shay?! Is that you! How long has it been?" He got up and grinned. "Oh, where are my manners?" He took my hand and shook it so hard I thought he might tear it off. "Thank you my friend, thank you! But- what are you doing in Paris?"

I looked him dead in the eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. "With all due respect, sir, this is no time to talk. Yer still in danger."

Franklin agreed. "Yes. I-I must return to my family."

Franklin led me through the winding streets towards his home. Remembering how Master Kenway had taught me to hone my Sight to "listen" for danger, I checked every moment onwards in case of danger. None came until we got to his house.

"Ah, thank you, Shay." He said when we reached the door. "Please, wait for me. I just want to make sure my family is safe." He headed in and shut the door in a hurry.

I knew that there was still danger present, and they were watching us right now. They wouldn't strike until Franklin left the safety of his home again, but they had no idea that the man with his was the same that had driven the Colonial Assassins into ruin. Ruin that was lasting fine until that native boy of Master Kenway's took the hood and picked up what the old bastard had started.

Every one of them that was watching Franklin's door should have kept a closer eye on their backs. I was just finishing up with the last one, who had gotten a bit too hasty and started towards Franklin's door just as he was leaving.

Franklin was stunned. "How…how did you do that?!" He stuttered. "It was quite…fortunate."

"Oh, I make my own luck, Master Franklin." I said. "As I suspect you do."

Franklin beamed. "Yes, indeed my good fellow." He chuckled. "Yet without your assistance today…" He looked around at what was left of his would-be killers, even slightly kicking the one I just finished with. "Well, you have my thanks, Shay. Is there anything I can do to repay you for this…er…kindness?"

Just what I was hoping for. "Actually there is." I said. "I need to meet a… business acquaintance. I heard he would be at the Cháteau de Versailles, two days from now."

Franklin nodded in understanding. "And they don't just let anyone inside the royal palace." He sighed, wishing I had asked for something easier to do. "Very well. I'll see what can be arranged."

* * *

True to his word, I found myself walking towards the front steps of the palace itself the next day. Such a marvel of a palace indeed, and yet I was not here for His Majesty. Franklin met me at the gate and had the guard let me in.

"Ah, Shay!" He glanced at my coat as we walked up towards the entrance. "You certainly look prepared to meet royalty. Perhaps King Louis himself will grant you an audience."

I shook my head. "I doubt even these breeches will get me into the King's chambers." I said, solemnly. "Besides, I'm only here to see a business acquaintance."

"Yes." Franklin agreed. He changed the subject. "I heard a group of merchants would be here, today. They might come to see my scientific demonstration later!"

I smiled. That man and his experiments. People would remember him for years to come, I hoped. "They really should." I replied. "They might learn somethin', though I wouldn't count on their bein' present." I glanced back at him. "I take my leave. Thank yah again, Master Franklin."

I then turned and started for the front steps. "Now to find Charles, and that damned box."

That box that had caused me so much trouble to begin with. How it led to practically leveling both Haiti and Lisbon. Although it also led to me seeing the world for what it truly was, and how things had to be if this world was going to live. Certainly not in the hands of Achilles and the Assassins. That boy, Connor was doing his scheming with Washington, but we were doing our part, and we would succeed one way or another.

He and a small boy were just going inside as I reached the front entrance. "There he is." I whispered. "Charles Dorian."

The guards closed the door behind him as he went inside. One of them caught my eye and held his hand up. "Sorree, sir. Zee palace ees closed to visitors at zee moment. Please return tomorrow."

I frowned. "But I'm supposed to be in a meetin', right now" I explained.

"Then you should already be inside." The guard sniffed. Then quite rudely, he added. "Come back and sell your wool tomorrow.

I glared hard at him. The unfortunate part was that this was no place for me to give this prick what for. I was running out of time, and needed to find another way in. Lucky for him.

Doubling back, I noticed an open balcony door. I climbed over the fence just below and then up onto the balcony, slipping in. There were many people about, speaking about their own upper class problems and how the tea was too hot or whatever they liked to complain about. There were guards around as I walked through each corridor to the next, trying to find my way to the hall I knew Dorian would be in, but nothing I couldn't easily slip past through the crowds.

Presently I went to the end of one of the chambers and climbed down a balcony into a large corridor with a checkered floor. A boy and a girl giggled as I walked past them.

"Did you see their faces when we stole those apples?"

The boy laughed. "I'm Arno" He said as I walked into the next room.

"Elise." The girl replied.

Both of those children would eventually become members on opposite sides of our war, but sadly, neither of them would make a real mark on the world like I had.

The main hall was crowded with even more people than before. People hoping to catch a glimpse of his majesty, King Louis. I reached the end of the hallway beside the doorway on the far side, and waited.

Soon enough, Dorian came out shoving the precious treasure into his coat. "Gentlemen, I will protect this artifact with my very life." He vowed.

Oh, but it would certainly cost him his life. An eye for an eye, I suppose. As Liam had killed Colonel Monroe only because he carried the manuscript that went with this box. When his associates departed, Charles walked over to a chair at the edge of the hallway. When he realized no one was there, he looked around.

"Arno? Where have you gone?" He called. He caught the eye of a few other nobles. "My son, Arno? Perhaps you have seen him?"

"_Non, mousier_." One said as they walked past. None noticed me slip through the crowd towards my target.

Charles feebly looked around for his missing son, but looked behind him too late as I grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved my blade into his belly.

"You!" He gasped as I pulled my blade out. "You're the traitor! The Rogue!"

I grinned as I sat him down on the chair. "I'm just finishin' old business." I said as I reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the box.

Charles strained for air, and tried to stand up as I held tightly onto his shoulder, pushing him back down. "Old- Connor and his Assassins- The American Revolution is undoing your Templar business." He snarled.

I only chuckled, then whispered into his ears. "Then perhaps we shall start a Revolution of our own."

I got up and started away as Charles stood up. Already I heard women screaming at the realization of the dying man that was gasping for his last breaths, hoping that his son was safe. Fortunate for him, I saw no point in killing the boy. I had already gotten what I came for, and I couldn't help but smile even more as I walked out into the chilly December air, my mission accomplished.

* * *

Uphold the principles of our Order, and all for which we stand. Never share our secrets, nor divulge the true nature of our work. Do so until death, whatever the cost. This is my new Creed. I am Shay Patrick Cormac, Templar of the Colonial…of the _American_ rite. I am an older man now, and perhaps wiser. A War has ended, a Revolution now raging, and another is about to begin. May the Father of Understanding Guide us all…

**End Sequence 2: The Shattered Eagle**


	30. Chapter 30: Winter is Here

**A/N: Welcome back, everyone! I hope you are having a great 2016 so far! Me? I got a brand new AC hoodie for Christmas, black and red with a beaked hood! I hope those of you who read my Syndicate Christmas fic enjoyed it, and know that that was not the last you will see of the Frye Twins from me. I am so very excited to start this Sequence, considering I will admit there was too much time on Sequence 2, and this is what we have been building up towards for almost a whole year now. Glad to also start building on new characters, and bring you my version of what happened with Shay after the events of Rogue. There are a couple things that I want to cover real quick before we start. 1: For the eagle eyed readers, there is a special reference to the magic number from the Desmond games in the chapter "A Curious Thing". Remember the number, and you'll spot the little Easter Egg. 2: This one time, I am starting the chapter with a quick cast run with all the fancasts I thought of for each character. This is important to me, but I might not have a cast for some characters because I'm just not sure of who would fit their profile the best. And 3: I like to add BGM a few times, so there will be a few cues from now on when I have felt there is a need for one and it sets the mood of the scene. Sit back, relax and enjoy our start to Sequence 3!**

* * *

_Ubisoft presents,_

_In association with ABC-Disney Studios_

_Assassin's Creed Faith_

_Starring Kit Harington as Asgeir_

_Elizabeth Lail as Anna_

_Richard Madden as Jason_

_Georgina Haig as Elsa_

_Carlos Valdes as Zar_

_Arthur Darvill as Rory_

_Meagan Ory as Red_

_Cary Elwes as Keif_

_Troy Baker as Marc_

_Rahul Kohli as Willis_

_Alex Jordan (voice actor) as Troy_

_Bradley James as Rabbit_

_Daniel Portman as Torren_

_With Jerome Flynn as Matthew_

_Liam Cunningham as Keaton_

_Sam Worthington as Daniel_

_Adam Driver as Norik_

_And Steven Piovesan as Shay_

* * *

**Begin Sequence 3: The Reaping Eagle**

Chapter 30: Winter is Here

Every day we tell ourselves that what we fight for is an end to this war. That we do it to protect our family, and our brotherhood. But that is a convenient lie that we all tell ourselves every time. The real truth is that we fight to keep this war going as long as we possibly can so that we win. Whenever either side loses, they just keep adding pieces to the board to keep playing. Some of us can't bear the thought that this war will use up all of our lives, and others would do anything to further us and save our side of this war, the freedom fighting Assassins. I, Asgeir Swortssen, the last of a long bloodline of Assassins, who was cursed with unnatural eternal life and immortality, care a lot less for that war, now. In fact, there is very little that I care about aside from killing the freak that slaughtered my family.

Ingrid. Hidden away in my mother's family's history, she returned with a broken mind and a desire for unjust revenge on the Assassins for sealing her in an urn for almost thirty years. The Assassin that had turned against her before, my father, is long dead now, but it was clear to me that Ingrid didn't care. She would destroy the Assassins and everyone else who was, in her eyes, remotely responsible for her imprisonment. However, in her efforts to tear apart my two half-sisters, Elsa and Anna, and myself she failed, and in her rage killed them both, cursing and letting me escape with my life.

That was thirty years ago, and since then the curse has taken it's toll on me. Every day I can feel my mind and soul wear down, no end in sight. Well, there is an end in sight for me, but one that ends with me turning to ice and my last breath leaving my body in a cold stream. So the only thing that I know that can save me is killing that freak. No "act of true love" for me, for what has happened to me and who I have lost has crippled me, making me incapable of feeling any love anymore.

One threat has been taken down, but now all that remains is her. And even though all my allies in my brotherhood say they are ready to face her, the truth is that there is a massive storm coming, and I am the only one who knows just how bad it is.

My name is Asgeir Daniel Swortssen. I am an Assassin.

* * *

The nightmares hadn't been getting any easier. Every night was the same hellish images I saw for the last seven years. It always started the same way: waking up, face buried in the snow on a mountain summit in the middle of the worst blizzard imaginable. My face feeling numb as I crawled out of the snow, I looked around in the snow for my blades when I realized I didn't have them.

Eventually while digging around in the snow, I found a knife. I grabbed it, my numbing fingers clenching tightly around the handle of it as I trudged on.

Through the mist of the storm I continued to see the shape of

"You're as weak as they come, Assassin."

Looking up in that bright haze, I started limping through the snow towards the shadow of a woman. A monster.

"As low of a snake as your father was. Do you take pride in his actions, knowing he aimed a gun at an innocent woman?" The shadow said as I got closer to her.  
"You AREN'T INNOCENT!" I screamed, lunging forwards.

The ground suddenly cracked open and I could hear the loud shattering of ice breaking as I fell down the hole. Old memories raced alongside me as I fell downwards. Old voices.

"Another's evil does not justify your own, Asgeir."

"You hide knowledge of things that have yet to come that I want no part of! I banish you from my kingdom in the name of our king! Be gone with you, grateful I don't take your head for your treachery!"

"You wear that hood and then cause chaos and terror at every turn! You're as insane as he was!"

"Ah! You didn't even know! But how could you? The pages were destroyed long ago, after all. We're pretty much the same, this way, Asgeir. It'll be in our nature for the best Assassins to become the even better Templars!"

"The things you did to those people are unjustifiable in every way, Asgeir. You are an Assassin no longer!"

I felt my face get smashed into the bottom of the dark and cold cave of ice, the cracks in the floor making the image of the dreaded cross. I remember how the nightmare awaits me every night, and yet I feel it as badly as if it was the first time I saw it.

Two girls with rotting, frostbitten skin stood before me, their faces like black skeletons with rotting flesh clinging tightly to their skulls. One with a long blonde braid and another with two reddish braids.

"You let us die, Asgeir! Why didn't you stand and fight?"

"He's weak! He's not our brother! He's only a bastard that should have been put to the knife as soon as he was pulled out of our mother's womb!"

"You failed us, Asgeir! We're dead, and we're never coming back!"

I only sat down in the dark, curled up in a ball as I desperately pressed my hands to my ears, nearly breaking my skull trying to quiet them. It never did any good as they walked towards me, cursing and spitting my name. Then they changed into two men in Assassin hoods. One with spiked brown hair and the other with messy blonde.

"We spent our whole lives trying to shatter the chains off of every slave that we ever saw! Now we're dead and King George lives to continue with his injustice! All because of you! It's all your fault!"

"No…" I murmured. "nonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono…"

"You're a pathetic waste of skin! You're afraid of Ingrid for what she is, because you don't understand her and what she can do! You're afraid of her and rightly so, for she is the righteous, and you are the reaper! She will win! She sees clearly that you are the monster, and she will cleanse this world of evil, ending it all with you after she's ripped everything you ever cared for!"

"SILENCE!" I howled.

As soon as I screamed it, Troy and Rabbit dissolved into snowflakes, leaving me alone in the dark cave. A small light seemed to illuminate far at the end of the tunnel, so I followed it, walking slowly with caution. Every night it was the same. Demons in the forms of those that I failed telling me that I would never be able to destroy Ingrid because of how powerful she was. And the demon in the form of that monster I killed only a handful of years ago. Those blank, pale eyes and bloody lips… And how they forced me to relive the worst memories I had of my life in the recent years, finishing with the worst that I had forgotten would be coming in a few minutes.

When I reached the end of the hall, I realized I was in the temple of the Assassins, where Novices would be inducted in their formal ceremonies. My father knelt in front of the fire, his hands folded to his chin.

"Why pray, father? We always say there are no gods up there." I asked, thinking nothing was out of the ordinary for what I saw. Dreams often feel that way.

"It's not exactly praying, son." He said, giving me a sideways glance up towards me. "I speak to whatever lies beyond the veil of death. Just hoping someone listens."

"Not very Assassin like of you."

"Yeah, well. That's life at this age. Can't seem to follow rules by the letter, no matter how much we want to."

"I'm afraid, father." I said, suddenly.

"Afraid that you aren't worthy to wear that hood?"

"Among other things. I'm afraid of Ingrid more than I would care to admit to anyone else. Part of me thinks I shouldn't come back to this, and just try to give up as best I can. Maybe just leave this place, The Gates, leave behind every hope and just try to find a way to die."

"So that's it, is it? She kills six people and curses you and she's beaten you. Your mission over."

"That's right. How can I even defeat her after all I've done? I feel like every move I made in the past years to tracking her down only led me right into her hand. Everything I did, no matter how much I tried, how much pain I inflicted on everyone I faced, I did it with the sole intention of hunting her down and killing her. Every second that my heart still beats is another second where I know that she's still out there plotting her ultimate scheme and laying down the groundwork. But here I am, stuck with everything ripped from me because of her. I can't do anything anymore."

Father smiled as he got up from his knees and sat down on the steps towards the altar as I sat down beside him.

"Your grandfather Norik had many struggles with his morality. In a way, his life as an Assassin had a fourth irony: we encourage people to think outside the chains of morals and ethics, but he struggled immensely on whether or not he should try to kill Cora. He tried twice, but failed both times. He would have argued to me many times that she was too strong with magic for him to ever get close enough to her to kill her. But I think that he was always lying to me but also to himself as much. Twice he lied to himself, and they are now decisions that stand before you. The first lie he told himself was that he could kill her if she wasn't so powerful in magic. But I often think that he had every reason and way to kill her but couldn't do it because he still remembered who she once was."

"And the second, father?"

"Well son, that's the one where those lies might seem to blur into one, but they are two, and no less. The second was that he always said to himself that he didn't want to kill her. It wasn't the Assassin way, he said. But it was that history between them that not only got in his way, but pushed him as well. Crushing the air out of him as the rock and the hard place closed in on him. Then comes the decision that you will have to face when you finally are given the chance to kill her. Do you have to kill her, but don't want to for the sake of the memories of your half-sisters? Or do you want to kill her for everything that she has done to you and those that you care about, but don't have to?"

Suddenly the temple around us began to crumble, the bricks and mortars falling down and turning to smoke as they hit the ground. When the temple was completely gone I saw my father standing on the top of the gallows as I stood among the onlookers. King Agdar and my mother, Queen Gerda were looking out into the crowd as they booed my father and yelled up, throwing rotten vegetables and dog shit at him. The executioner held the greatsword of the Arendelle royal family in it's scabbard as Agdar called out to the crowd.

"Good people of Arendelle! This man, Daniel Swortssen, stands before you on the charges of murder, treason, and fornication! He has made attempts on both my wife's life and my own, and now stands before you in the sight of gods and men to be executed for his crimes! Do you have any last words?"

As my father looked up at the King, grinning at him the way how he did, I turned and looked up into the hills that rose from the outskirts of the town and into the Arendelle mountains. In the distance, a number of men in white hoods scurried up the hill as fast as they could, but one only stood behind as he looked down into the town. It was a long way from where he stood from here, but he could see everything that was happening down here as clear as day, because that boy was me.

"If you're going to take my head off, Your Majesty, then you do it yourself!" My father called out, neither begging for mercy or bribery. "You owe it to me, considering what you did to my son!"

The King stomped over and punched my father in the face. "Enough of your lies!" He said, playing the victim card with his words. Like he never tried to kill an innocent bastard baby.

"Agdar…"

My father looked at Gerda with a softer expression. "It's alright, Gerda." The crowd was too loud for him to say what he whispered towards. "Our son is safe."

Agdar looked as though he would burst into flames with the fury that burned in his eyes, but then smiled as he held out his hand. The executioner in his black hood nodded as he waddled over and handed the greatsword to Agdar.

"Very well, then." He sneered. "In the name of the good people of Arendelle, and in the sight of gods and men, I hereby sentence you to die."

He was so caught up in the moment when he did the deed, that it took two very large men to pry the greatsword out of the wood that had been underneath my father's neck, because he had slammed the sword so hard into the wood.

* * *

I woke up on one of the tables in the pub, hearing the chatter of the crowd of people. I guessed the lockdown worked well enough since I wasn't outside the pub. I got up, brushing the dust off my jeans, and walked over to the bar.

Normally, I found only some of the Assassins that worked here in the pub eating breakfast at this time in the morning, but not today. Today the whole place was so crowded, some Assassins were sitting on the floor with their plates on trays. As soon as I got off the table, several troops I recognized who worked at the Outposts got up and sat down at the table, carrying on their conversation.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched, sitting down at my usual seat at the bar. Kevan dropped a mug of coffee in front of me, and a pamphlet beside it.

"It's Matthew and Keaton's team assignments for the course of the lockdown. You don't leave or come back inside Cormac's without at least one other member of your team." He explained.

I opened it up and looked it over. Each team had about four or six members, and jobs. I was on Lima Team along with Zar, Rory and Torren. Jason was also on the list, but there was an "X" beside his name written in pen. With his wrist badly sprained when he was fighting Zelena, he would be out of the big action for the time being.

The others on my team came in a few minutes later, and we took the last table available, in the corner.

When the whole team was assembled, Zar placed a folder on the table.

"Matthew handed this to me saying that every team will get one before we head out today. Only the leaders are to read them."

I took the folder from Zar and opened it. Matthew was testing me even further with this war of ours coming to the doorstep by making me the leader of this team. Ever since I returned, I was sure that he was opposing every decision I was making because of knowledge I had of the Master Templar, Shay Cormac that Matthew had destroyed long ago. I believed even then that he was still trying to hide the information from the other Assassins, but was telling me that he was testing me for the day that I would take his place as Mentor, not knowing that I had no intention of doing so when I killed Ingrid. The rage that drove me was all that I had left, and when I would slice her open, that would be it for me.

I opened the folder. The papers inside were mostly the small pieces of intel we had on Ingrid before she had frozen Arendelle, and the photo that had brought me here. I had first seen that photo on my last day in the Gates, the ancient prison for Assassin criminals that prisoners would always end with a death sentence by dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia. Untamed wilderness as far as the eye could see, and it still wasn't enough to kill me. Nothing would. At the time that I had first seen the photo I didn't know the blonde that Ingrid was speaking to in the photo. Now I knew that it was Emma Swan, the so-called "Savior" of the fairy tale world. As long as she didn't get in my way with this, she could call herself whatever the hell she pleased.

There was also a typed letter giving us our objectives that I was meant to read aloud.

"Teams Lima, Sierra, and X-Ray will head directly for the hostile building, Any Given Sundae and secure it, ensuring the Primary Target is there." I read. "If not, we begin monitoring the building for when she is there, and make our first move as soon as possible. All six remaining teams will be given thermometers and thermal scanners and will begin setting them up around town tonight, provided the Primary Target is not here."

"And me? What am I doing while you are out there, Asgeir?" Jason asked.

I looked down at the papers, looking for Jason's name and his assignment.

"It looks like you're our eyes above, J." I replied. "Matthew's put you down for our team's camera drone controller until your wrist is healed."

"Well, at least they're having me do something while I'm out of commission" He commented, rubbing his bandaged hand. The injury he received happened two days ago, when he was fighting Zelena the Wicked Witch. The doctors that patched him up at the hospital were not sure how long the injuries would last, but said they weren't so severe that he would have to stop fighting. Jason however, didn't want to take his chances to risk missing a shot, and destroying his reputation as the "one who never missed". He was brave, but not stupid, and knew that his sprained arm could get in the way. So he would be operating one of the drones we would have patrolling town as we searched for Ingrid.

Torren grabbed one of the papers on the table that was addressed for him. After reading it he got up.

"Matthew has something else he wants me to use down in the Bunker. I'll meet you guys at the ice cream parlour." He said. He walked over to the kitchen, where the secret door to the Bunker lay.

"All teams, assignments begin in ten minutes. Get to your ready positions." I heard over the radio.

I got up from the table along with the rest of the pub. People started filing around the pub, either heading for the Bunker, or the other eight people that weren't on my team assembling at the doors.

Keif and a few of his close friends started handing out weapons to each member of the three teams. We each got an M4 assault rifle and vests with ammunition.

"You head out, grab Ingrid, Asgeir kills her, then head right back." Keif said. "Simple as that."

As reassuring as he sounded, I knew that Keif was wrong. She would know that we were coming if she was anywhere near as smart as she was supposed to be, while still being so stupid as to cross me. But there would be no hesitation, and no mercy, no matter who tried to stop me.

Two young Assassins met with me just as the rest of them were getting their weapons. "Asgeir, right?" The taller, darker skinned one said. "I'm Sierra leader Willis, and this is X-Ray leader Marc. Heard good things about you from Matthew."

"You're considered a legend to some Assassins, brother." Marc said. "We're honored to fight alongside the White Reaper."

"Let's just get this finished." I replied, hefting my rifle's strap over my shoulder.

Marc and Willis shrugged as they walked over to their own teams and began going over their plans. I saw how overnight, the door had been tricked out with several security measures. A keypad was now present for unlocking the door from the inside and several deadbolts and steel reinforcements. From here on out, no one was coming inside the pub without verification that they were an Assassin from the cameras set up out front, or else the automated sentry guns would mow them down like a chainsaw to a blade of grass.

"Operation Icebreaker initiates in one minute. The doors will open in that time." I heard Matthew say over the radio. He was now downstairs in the Bunker's command room. Some of us had ear mounted cameras that were sending the feed right back to them, giving them as many eyes as they could in this.

I breathed slowly and deeply as the guard at the door then punched the keypad's code in, and opened the front door. Marc filed out, followed by Willis, and then me as our teams came out from behind us.

* * *

There was not a cloud in the sky that day, and it felt even a little warm. But it would not feel like that for long. The troops and I moved into attack formations as we headed wordlessly down the street in the clear and cool late morning. It would look suspicious as hell if anyone spotted a small battalion of Assassin troops suddenly kick in the doors of an ice cream parlor, but I saw that there was barely anyone on the street aside from a small group of civilians down the street from here. It was Emma, Charming, Snow and Henry walking Baby Neil towards us.

"Nothing changes." I said, the rage curdling in my lungs. "Civilians present or not, Ingrid dies within the hour."

The Charmings were too absorbed in their conversation to even notice us, and that was fine by me. Lima, X-Ray and Sierra hugged towards the left side of the street as we passed by the library and the Marine Garage. I held my rifle out with my right hand as I raised my hood with my left, and then approached the door to Any Given Sundae with the other teams behind me. Some of them peered into the window, but I was more focused on the note taped to the door.

"Freezers are broken. Closed until further notice." It said,

"Cute." I snarled under my breath. "It's not like she can keep that shit frozen herself. Oh, wait."

"If she thinks hidin' like that by taping a hand written sign to her door will stop yah, she has another thing coming, Asgeir." I heard the Irish bastard's voice say. He was standing right behind Rory as he said it.

One of the worst side effects of the curse that Ingrid inflicted on me was a severe hallucination that kept coming back to me. First it was merely voices in my head, telling me this person and that person planned to betray me, then in got worse when the voices started telling me to take care of some of them. Now they manifested into a demon that took the form of Shay Cormac. He taunted me, tortured me, and revealed the worst secret ever to me.

Marc pointed to two of his team members as they started getting the thermal sensors out of their packs. "I want those sensors ready to bug this place after I pick the lock open." He said, pulling out his lockpick set. Professional looking, I might add. "Kicking in the door's not going to help us in any way just yet."

Twenty seconds of picking, Marc wasn't done.

"Hurry the fuck up!" I snapped, urgently tapping the door with my rifle. I wanted this bitch dead by the end of the day, and at this rate, the snow would be on us by the time Marc would be done.

"I can only go as fast as I can!" He replied. "Jesus, this lock is hard! It's almost like it's been reinforced with ic-"

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" I heard. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

I looked up as I saw Grumpy and Sleepy running around the corner from the Rabbit Hole bar across the street from where we stood. Sleepy had scratches all over his face, and they both looked like they had seen a demon. They had, I realized, after thinking it through. The worst one there is.

"Lima Team, follow me and we'll investigate." I commanded. "Sierra and X-Ray will stay here and have this placed bugged when we get back."

"Roger, Reaper." Jason said through the radio.

I heard the whirr of the small camera drone Jason was operating fly over my head back at Cormac's as we crossed the street, hugging the corner around where Emma and Hook were as they spoke to Grumpy and Sleepy.

"Okay, Leroy. What is it?" Emma asked, trying to calm him down.

It wasn't working. He still breathed fast and hard as he explained. "We were driving home last night and some _thing_ blasted me with magic. The whole van's iced over! We woke up in a meat locker! Who's got that kind of magic?!"

Insert whatever comment I have made before about that freak right here. I couldn't say anything I hadn't before. The team rounded the corner as Emma noticed something.

"Maybe the person who made that?"

She had noticed a whole trail of ice going across the parking lot behind the bar and into a shipyard. As we noticed it lead into the door in the fence of the yard, it slammed shut.

Hiding like a craven whore this whole time for the past month and a half, and now she stupidly leaves a trail for us to follow? If it led into a trap, I'd go without hesitation knowing I'd get that much closer to her, able to escape whatever she tried to trap me with.

Lima Team and I walked past Emma and Hook with our rifles drawn.

"Uh, Asgeir?" She started.

"Back off, Emma!" I snapped as the teams started to jog towards the fence. "This is our threat, and has nothing to do with you. We're taking over from here." And no one was getting in my way to this kill. Otherwise, they would wish they had really thought again.

Emma seemed shaken by that, but didn't seem to listen to that order as we headed across the lot to the fence. It made no real difference to me if she stayed out of my way. Lima team, Hook and Emma followed closely behind me "DO NOT BLOCK EVER!" was written on the fence in big white letters.

The door wasn't locked, but I didn't feel like trying to open the door in the normal way. I wanted to show Ingrid just how much mercy she would get with this. I aimed my rifle and shot off the hinges to the door, kicked it hard, then led the team as we headed inside.

I could feel it getting colder in there, and even with the ice in my heart, I knew the chill was from her. So unlike her from before, to hide from us, but maybe we had shown her enough while she watched us from the shadows of her ice cream store. She knew just what was coming for her, and she should be afraid with every living bone in her body. I could taste her fear, and it was almost as sweet as I knew her blood would be.

Lima team filed behind me, then Emma and Hook went in with me. I held up my rifle's sights to my eye as I yelled out.

"You have ten seconds to climb out of whatever hole you're hiding in, freak. Then we set this place to blow!" I yelled out to her. "So come out and I'll gut you like a fucking pig!"

Why would she hide in here? If she closed her store only to hide from us here, she was either getting sloppy, or she had something else in mind. Something was not right.

I pulled back on my rifle's lever and held my breath.

"Zar. Smoke grenades at the ready. Flush her out. Rory, start setting up C4 charges if she tries anything clever."

Zar nodded and got out the smoke grenades he had been given and started walking towards the dumpster the ice trail led towards. He started pulling the pins and Rory set up the charges around as Emma watched, silent but horrified.

Suddenly, a blast of cold air came out from behind the dumpster, and Zar flew backwards as snowflakes started swirling around. They spun faster and faster through the warehouse before starting to form itself into something else. A massive snow monster, snarling and snapping at us.

"Aim and hold! Hold your fire!" I yelled out. "Hello, bitch." I sneered under my breath.

"Alright, that's a new one." Hook muttered.

We kept our rifles raised as Emma held her gun up cautiously. "We don't wanna pick a fight." She called out.

"Swan…" Hook murmured.

"I just wanna see what it wants."

She had no idea. I rolled my eyes in frustration. "Talking is over, Swan! FIRE!"

Bullets slashed through the warehouse air into the snow monster. It held it's arm up as every one of us emptied our clips into it. Then it yelled out. "GO AWAY!"

I unattached the empty clip off my rifle as the rest of Lima Team, Hook and Emma ran back through the door. Running back with them towards the Rabbit Hole, a mix of the team shot towards the snow monster with me trailing right behind, running and gunning. Sierra and X-Ray Teams had taken firing stances from across the street from the Rabbit Hole and were holding their aim until everyone but me were clear. As soon as everyone except me and the monster were out of the way of the firing line, I yelled out the order.

"OPEN FIRE!" I yelled out with the snow monster on my heels.

Some of them hesitated, but most of them fired, and while some bullets hit me, most of them ended up in the snow monster, who once again brushed them off like they were made of paper.

I had emptied my second clip into the monster, who I now realized looked a lot like Marshmallow, when we were back in the town's main square. The monster stood before us from beside the Rabbit Hole as the Teams took their firing positions, walking forwards as it batted a low power line out of it's way. Most of the townsfolk were out in the street, gawking at the walking snow pile before them.

"EVIL SNOWMAN! RUN!" Grumpy yelled out.

A lot of them didn't even have to be asked to do that, and soon chaos was on the streets.

"Lima Team to Bunker!" Zar cried out into his radio as we scattered, taking cover from the monster. "We need backup right now! Send in as many teams as we can so we can subdue this thing and minimize the casualties."

"Affirmative! Keep it busy as best you can!"

The teams took cover beneath the shop awnings, some of us darting into the open doors of the nearby shops, just barely keeping out of it's reach. I noticed the hardware store's door was open, and rushed in alongside Rory. We both ducked behind a shelf right by the window with the hammers and nails.

"Jaysus, that thing's gonna tear us a new one!" He cried out. "Yah wouldn't happen to have any hard liquor on yah, would yah?"

I knew what he was thinking, and drew my radio. "Bring as much fire weapons we have! Molotovs, flamethrowers, whatever! We need to bring this fucker back to the state of a puddle! Rory and I may be able to get some flammable supplies in the store!"

"Affirmative, Reaper. We'll stockpile all we got and bring what we can."

I gnashed my teeth as I drew my revolver, one Bullet loaded into it. Was it worth a shot to take on this thing? I wouldn't use one on Zelena, or Ingrid, but this might be different. Showing Ingrid how I wasn't pulling any more swings of the sword would be what I needed. To truly inject the fear into her. The fear that her life _would_ end by the end of this.

One of the cashiers had soon enough abandoned his till to see what all the chaos going on outside was. "What the hell is that?"

"Evil snowman." Rory replied, walking back to his cover. I had been to absorbed in my brooding to notice that he had grabbed a can of lighter fluid and a bag of paper towels.

"…Oh." He said, quiet as a flea, not taking notice of the theft of his store. Rory would pay him later, I thought.

The radio suddenly crackled, and Torren's voice came on. "All Assassins! Clear the street! I'm coming in hot."

Rory and I stood up from our crouching positions to look out the window. A white van careened down the street in reverse from the east, swerving and cruising with both a wild lack of control, and a professional's skill. The van skidded to a halt across the street on the sidewalk, with it's rear end pointed at the snowman. It gazed angrily down at the van as it burst open. It was Torren in his full body armor, the Assassin logo glistening in red with crudely stenciled-on spray paint. He was holding a large cannon in his hands, not unlike the minigun he had wielded only the other day when he helped us defend the hospital from Zelena. But this one was different.

"HEY FROSTY!" He called out. "YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL ME?! THEY CALL ME 'H'. BECAUSE I'M TURNING YOUR ASS TO ASH!"

He screamed out as the cannon suddenly made the whole block turn into the deepest firey hell. The snowman yelled and backed away as Torren kept walking towards him, a mechanical dragon in his hands.

"All Assassin troops, give that prick everything you got!" Matthew called out from his radio. "Sierra and X-Ray, make sure the primary objective is complete!"

"Roger that, Mentor." Marc called out. "Reaper! Get that thing off our asses!"

Rory and I ran out onto the street, patches of fire on the pavement as Torren took a break. Well deserved, as the snowman was starting to back away in fear and walking towards the woods. Rory took out his lighter and tossed a roll of fluid soaked towels at the monster.

"Mentors." Zar said over the feed. "The snow monster's headed for the woods. Should we follow it?"

"Yes." Keaton said. "It might be heading back to Ingrid's lair if she's not at her store. We're sending another van of troops to go with you, but keep a visual on it. Let's see where it's heading."

Lima Team and I ran off following it with Torren in the back. Grumpy ran past us back towards the town square, panicking even more.

"THERE'S A MONSTER ON THE LOOSE! A MONSTER!"

I felt my jaw almost crush itself at my teeth clenching. He thought the monster was the snowman, but he didn't know who sent it.

* * *

Following the trail of large footprints it was leaving behind, we hurried behind in the van after driving it out of town. Zar took the wheel, figuring that he'd be able to intercept it by taking note of it's direction. When we found our good position ahead of the monster, we were by the Merry Men's smaller camp.

As Lima Team filed out of the van, Emma, Hook and David came by.

"What is it?" Robin inquired.

"It's some kind of- snow monster." David said, still shaken by what was out there.

"Bunker, we are set up to intercept the threat. Please advise." Zar said from the driver's seat.

"No monster shall cross our path." Robin swore to the group. "We shall give you our assis-"

"No thanks." I said. "We have this."

"Asgeir, what _is_ that thing?" Emma demanded.

"That thing is what I'm here for." I said. "And that's all you get to know."

We heard a roar, and Lima Team raised their weapons.

"I have a visual!" Rory called out. "He's coming from the North."

"Give it what you got!" I heard Keaton yell out.

The monster stomped forwards through the brush, knocking over the brambles at it's feet like they were weeds in a garden. I gnashed my teeth as I ran forwards with my rifle raised.

"FIRE! FIRE! OPEN FIRE!" I yelled out.

"Nononono! Don't shoot!" Emma called. But I wasn't listening.

"It only attacks when it feels threatened." Hook cried.

Torren unleashed a devil's rage of flames towards the monster with his flamethrower, though this time it didn't back down like I expected. This time it backed away, and when Torren stopped spraying, it roared and extended claws made of ice from it's hands. The monster looked more and more like Marshmallow to me with every second, but I was certain Ingrid made it look like him just to toy with me. A trip down memory lane.

"C'mon! Lay down and melt, you shite!" I yelled out!

"Not even Assassin bullets can take it down." Hook realized. "I don't think we have what it takes."

"Emma does." David breathed.

I glanced back in anger. "I told you to stay out of our way! INCOMING!" I lunged out of the way as it swiped for me, diving onto the ground.

Emma didn't hesitate after that. She raised her hands, light from her magic radiating and blasting the monster backwards. I rolled over from my position and pulled out my revolver as the monster got back up.

"I'm seconds away from wasting one on this fucker, Ingrid!" I murmured.

The monster roared at Emma and blew ice wind at the whole lot of them, Lima Team scattering and taking cover.

"Take another shot at it, Team!" Zar cried. "On my mark!"

Suddenly, Marian ran up to the monster with a bow drawn.

"Hold your fire!"

She was about to shoot an arrow right at the monster, but she wasn't given the chance as it slammed it's fist into her, knocking her to the ground, thirty feet from me.

"Aim and hold!" Zar called out, preparing to take the shot again.

The monster stood above Marian, snarling and snapping, readying to deliver the killing blow. I held up my revolver, but I didn't take the shot. Refocusing my Sight, I noticed what was still haunting me since the night before: Marian was glowing red in my eyes, and the only reason that she would show up like that would be if she meant to kill me. Why? What did I do to her? I wasn't going to try to find out, but I started to think that maybe it would be the best course of action to hold back and let Ingrid's monster kill her. Something wasn't right with her, but whatever it was, it would be best to let it solve itself.

Suddenly, Regina stepped out from behind a tree beside Marian. Where did she come from, I wondered. She walked forwards and stood between the monster, and the woman who damned her last night. The Team once again held their fire, but kept it at the ready as Regina looked up at the monster, daring it to make a move. GThen she looked down at Marian, the fear and desperation in her eyes. I wondered if now she was reconsidering the harsh words she had been using on Regina the night before.

"Please." Marian looked up at her, pleading. "Help me!"

She got her answer when Regina vanished before her in a cloud of purple smoke. Marian nearly screamed out of horror and disgust as she looked up to the monster. Coming back from the dead only to end up dead once more at the hands of the Blonde Devil.

"No!"

The monster stomped forwards and was about to deliver the killing blow with a stomp on her, when suddenly he disintegrated. Regina stood behind his remains with her hand raised. I rolled my eyes as I fell backwards into the dirt, chuckling. I'm not sure at what, but I partly think of how glad I was that our final war against that freak was only beginning. Or maybe it was how we emptied so many bullets into that thing, and Regina took it down with a single hand movement.

* * *

Torren and Rory sat in the open back end of the van as Zar was on his phone talking with Matthew.

"This was some bold move made by her literally the day after Zelena was killed." Torren commented.

"We got no idea what goes on in that wacko's head, lad." Rory replied. "I say that we get back to the Bunker as soon as we can and stock up on as many flammables as we can."

"Agreed." I said. I pulled out my radio. "Sierra and X-Ray. What's your status?"

"A success, but there is something we might need to discuss when we get back. We are Oscar Mike."

"Right. See you there." I put my radio in my pocket and walked over to the open van door. Zar was just hanging up the phone.

"Matthew said we're getting a good solid feed from the store. We'll be seeing everything Ingrid is doing in that store."

I shook my head. "As much as that will be helpful, the bitch is smarter than that. She'll find the monitors and destroy them sooner than later."

"All the more reason we set up more monitors outside the store. Every field troop that wasn't fighting the monster spent the day setting up thermal scanners and thermometers across the town and forest. If we don't see Ingrid at her store, we'll at least be able to pinpoint where her lair is by figuring out the temperature fluxes."

"Well, that's better than nothing. We need to invest in finding out why that monster was able to take all those bullets like that. Make better weapons from what we got here."

"That's our second objective for now. Keif is already working on it at the Bunker as we speak."

"Alright then. If our objectives are complete for the day, then let's get this van running. We're done for the day."

* * *

Zar pulled the van up into the parking lot beside Cormac's, and we got out as the gate mechanically slid shut behind us and locked. Zar then raised his hand as he looked to the camera out front.

"Lima Team returning from mission." He called up.

"Confirmed." An Assassin's voice on the radio replied.

I heard a small beep and Zar grabbed the doorknob and opened it as the Team filed inside. Torren had to turn and move in sideways due to the bulk on his armour.

Matthew and Keaton were sitting at the bar talking with each other when we walked in. I saw Willis and Marc with their teams sitting at nearby tables as we sat down beside the Mentors.

"What the hell was going on out there?" Keaton asked as Torren ripped off his chestplate and sat down. "A snow monster?!"

"It was Ingrid." I said. "I'm certain of it. That snow monster she sent was to stop us from breaking into her store and setting up the monitors."

Matthew nodded to himself. "The woman clearly knew we wouldn't waste any time as soon as Zelena was defeated. We'll have to tread very cautiously going in. Think before we act."

"What's stopping us from going back down to that store the next time she's in there and putting a bullet through her brain?!" I snapped.

Keaton raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you need an answer to that question, Asgeir?"

"Please."

"'Hide in plain sight, and never compromise the Brotherhood'. If you think recklessly running down to that place and killing her the second you set eyes on her, then do it. It'll cost you a lot with the Order, including your hood, but if it satisfies your needs for vengeance against her, be my guest."

Jason walked in through the kitchen door just then, looking down at a tablet in his hands. "Monitors are set up and we are live." He said as he sat down. He looked up. "What are we doing now?"

"Never mind. Is she there, Jason?" I asked.

"No." He replied. "Place is really quiet. I had a talk with a few of the technicians on the monitors, and it was agreed that we best not act to hastily. Knowing Ingrid, she might sniff out the monitors before we even have a chance to find something of use. It's what Sierra and X-Ray are afraid of as well."

Keaton glanced at me knowingly. "You still want to rush in and kill her?"

Shay suddenly appeared behind him. "He's offering us to kill that bitch! Oh, please, please, please, please, please!"

I felt my hands ball up underneath the bar table. "No." I growled.

"Let me hear you say it, Asgeir." Matthew said.

That old man was pushing his luck. "I won't kill Ingrid until we have a way of doing it quickly and organized."

"Very good." He replied. He pulled out his radio. "Attention all Assassins. Lockup will commence at 7 PM. All field troops, if you have completed your assignments for the day, return to Cormac's as quickly as possible, and get some rest."

* * *

Upstairs in my room, I sat at the small desk I had by the window. Because of the troops that worked outside the pub were moved here due to the lockdown, most of them had to share rooms. I could hear the other Assassins in the next room over as I sat there in silence. The view outside my window was completely black; Cormac's was right at the water with my room facing directly away from the town.

Sitting there at my desk, I had my journal out. I had taken some precious moments in the 30 years of my exile to write down what I could. But so much of that was nothing but painful horrors, and while my father didn't believe in avoiding pain, I doubted even he could look back at what I had done and remained strong, let alone show pride. The cracks in my mind dealt to me by the Spell of Shattered Sight had compelled me to do the worst things, and there were moments where not only did I show pride in what I did, but I even felt a sense of pleasure from them. Pleasure that haunted me.

But even after all that I did that led me to being banished to The Gates, there was nothing that could prepare me for the secrets of Shay Patrick Cormac had been hidden away from the Assassins. Secrets that I knew I had to tell the whole branch sooner or later. Secrets that had been hidden in pages in his journals. The last sets of pages in his books that I had been led to believe were ripped out by various Templars, when in reality they had been ripped out by the man I had trusted to lead me my whole life, Matthew Lund. Through the hallucinations that Shay had cursed me with, I was able to truly see what lay within the pages, and now they were burned onto my mind like the hottest memory iron. I told Rory the other day what was in the first few pages, but he stopped me, saying he knew the rest. And now I could feel that with the inevitability of death soon to befall me, and everyone else I once cared for, now was as good a time as any to begin what I was about to.

Turning to a new page in my journal, I began to write what had been hidden from the Order for over fifty years: The missing pages of Shay Patrick Cormac's journal.

I was just finishing the first "chapter" of pages when I heard something. A clicking sound, followed by a zap, and then darkness began to drown me. I took out my lighter and flicked it on, the amber glow surrounding my fist. I walked over to the door of my room, opened it and leaned out. Several Assassins were walking by and down the nearby stairs as everyone from their rooms started heading down to the pub and into the Bunker through the darkness. Some carried flashlights while others carried lighters.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Willis was walking by when he caught my eye. "A blackout, we think. Whole town's got it. Some of us are heading down into the Bunker to get the backup generators set up, while some of us are heading out into town to help out, but we're not sure what's really going on."

I narrowed my eyes. "It's so obvious, isn't it?" I snarled, turning back into my room to get my weapons. "We broke into her place to set up the monitors so we could spy on her, so she takes away our electricity so we'll have no defenses. Ingrid's fighting back."

* * *

**Cue "The Matador" by the White Buffalo**

**A/N: So great to be back! And as we will find out next present day chapter, Elsa saw nearly everything of Asgeir since he unknowingly threatened to kill her.**


	31. Chapter 31: Past- Huldra

**A/N: I will apologize for the wait for this chapter, especially considering the next is the long awaited reunion between Asgeir and Elsa. But know that this chapter is very important to the whole plot, and I wanted to make sure it was written correctly. I had several friends who played and enjoyed Rogue critique this chapter to ensure I wrote it correctly, so that's why it took so long. I'm very excited because this is where we really begin to dive deep into the secrets Asgeir had discovered in his exile, and why he is hiding them from his brothers. Plus I hope you all have done your homework and have looked into Year Walk, because it will serve as the framing device of all the flashbacks for this sequence. Thank you, and enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 31: Past- Huldra

_January 1__st __2012 12:05 AM_

The pain in my stomach burned through me as I trudged through the woods, wishing I had been able to eat for the day. Whether it was what pushed me forwards, or whatever the Masters wanted me to see from this walk, I had no idea. I had no real idea of what I was supposed to do for this Year Walk, aside from what I had done: eat nothing for a whole day, never leave my cabin until midnight on New Year's Eve, and start walking north.

Over a week ago, on the winter solstice, I opened a package given to me by the Masters, the secret organization of long dead Master Assassins that operate at an even higher level of secrecy than the Assassins. They told me that ever since my banishment to the Gates almost six years ago, there were events that were being set in motion that would eventually lead to my release and my chance at revenge against Ingrid. I was told that in order for things to start moving forwards on my part, I had to first take the Year Walk.

Year Walking was a long forgotten tradition that the Scandinavians practiced. It was said that whoever completed the Year Walk properly, by spending a whole day without eating, drinking, or even seeing daylight, then leaving his home at midnight, and working his way to the local church, they could be able to see the future through visions shown to them on their Year Walk. But this was not without mythological dangers. Five watchers of all of time and space await those who seek the visions of the future, rigging the game at every turn. Never has it ever been heard of someone who Year Walked and survived the wrath of the Watchers. There was even one report of a boy in the late 19th century that killed himself right before he began his walk.

But something from beyond time and space was waiting for me. A message? Something important that the Masters could not have been able to show me before. I needed to see it for myself.

I had no idea how this was even supposed to work. A Year Walk is not supposed to work properly without a church to wander around, and the closest one would be in Merritt. Yet, the last thing that would surprise me would be a church suddenly appearing out of nowhere. But I got something a little bit different as I stomped through the snow.

The Gates had an appropriate title, cosndiering where it was. It's still a secret now, but the most I can say is somewhere between Merritt, Kamloops, and Hell's Gate. All in the untamed wilderness of the British Columbian Interior. From where I was put, it would take a lot of climbing and walking to even think about getting out. I had to make frequent trips to either town for supplies considering I wasn't left a car or any way of getting out and had only my pack to carry what I needed, and a small cabin to live in. I could starve myself and save myself the effort, but that would make me feel like I really was dying, even if that wasn't possible. Not yet, anyways.

Even to this day, I have no idea how Ingrid was able to inflict such a curse on me. Best guess I have is that the ice in my heart reacted to the Shards of Shattered Sight in my mind, and was somehow able to "freeze" my body into this state. You try and cut my head off? The wound would stitch itself back together before the blade even came out the other side of my neck.

So there I walked. Through the mountainous slopes that the Gates were nestled right inside, and the landscape seemed to change right before my very eyes in the darkness. I kept silent as I watched in awe. The pine trees shortened and seemed to rot, turning to giant dead stakes jagging out of the snowy ground. The hills seemed to flatten around me as well, and I kept moving without any words.

**Cue Daniel Olsen "Rorliga Bilder"**

Every step I took did not bring me any comfort in the light that was being shone on what I needed to understand as the winter landscape finished it's haunting metamorphosis before me. I could feel only two things: certainty I was no longer in the Gates, or even the Interior anymore, that I had travelled through time and space to somewhere I did not belong. And dread. Utter, frightening dread.

There was something larger at work here. Something that the Masters were trying to make me go through to toy with me. This would lead me to the truth. But the path towards it only made me feel even worse. And nothing could make it feel any better. Not even when I got my first glimpse of what was waiting for me in the dark woods.

A small wooden hut stood before me underneath a large oak tree with a few leaves just barely hanging onto it's branches. Barely taller than me, I sensed that what I was to face, these Watchers, had left behind something to lead me to them in that hut. I walked inside, ducking my head underneath the entrance as I flicked out my lighter. After a few sparks from the wheel, I caught a flame and cast the room aglow with amber. A rope hung from the ceiling tied in a small noose at the end, with a small wooden doll of a girl on the end, it's eyes seemed to be crudely scratched into it's face, and the crevices filled with the wine of life. It's arms hung at it's sides and two carvings of owls were etched into the walls behind it, from where it hung almost perfectly in the dead center. The air in my throat froze anxiously, but I knew that this was the first clue that the Watchers had left me. The first clue I needed to solve to move on.

I held my lighter tightly in my left hand as I grabbed the doll. I tried pulling it's neck out of the noose, but it was on too tight. I then set my lighter down on the ground by my foot to try pulling it out again. As I did, I felt the doll's neck twist unnaturally in my hands. In surprise, I let go, my eyes wide as I gazed at the doll. As soon as I let go of it's neck, the doll's head spun back into place, swinging on the rope it hung from. I imagined that this hangman's daughter had a bad fascination with her father's occupation to do this to her doll.

It seemed the only thing the doll could do was turn it's head, so by instinct, I grabbed the doll's head and started turning it around. I kept turning it over and over as much as I could, feeling the old mechanism inside creak and crack as if it had not been used since it was made in the dawn of time. But when it could turn no more, I let go of it and let it swing freely.

**Cue Daniel Olsen "Vaggvisa"**

The doll's head began to turn back the way it had been wound up. As it did a eery song played from a music box inside, and the doll began to raise it's arm into a pattern. Pointing at one owl, and then the next one beside it. Then the first one, and then that first one again. All the while it's head kept turning around and around in time to the song. I started to notice the pattern in how the doll was pointing it's arms at the owl carvings, when it's head turned one last time as the song ended. I damn near fell backwards as the doll gazed at me. It's face had changed! Now drenched in blood and eyeing me angrily. Like I had violated it by listening to that song and wanted to punish me in return. I had to be brave, so I glared back at the doll.

"I've been punished enough, thank you very much." I replied. "I have not died a thousand-thousand times before, and I won't die tonight."

It wasn't the doll I needed to take with me. It was the pattern of how it was pointing it's arms at the owl carvings. I grabbed the head again, taking as little notice as I could at the doll's bloody face, and wound the head up again. I noticed with a shiver how the face changed back to the first one the next time it was facing me as I turned it's head over and over again and let it go to listen to the song once more.

After the sixth time of listening to the song, I had the pattern that the arms pointed in branded to my mind. I turned and walked out of the hut, taking my lighter off from the ground as I did so.

As I walked back out into the freezing snow, I heard something. Something that I had been prepared for from the few books the Masters sent me. I heard high melodic singing in the darkness of the forest. Far off in the flat and desolate lands I could hear it, like a mermaid's singing. But I knew what this monster really was.

Like a siren or any other magical seductress, the Huldra would be the first Watcher I would face. It was often thought by the Norse that she was the mother of the forest, and she decided the fates of every hunter that dared to walk through her woods. If she thought his hunt was just, she would blow down the barrel of the hunter's rifle, blessing his hunt. But if he did not respect her power, she would show him her true face. And the thing about siren creatures is that they have two faces. One to lure their victims, and one…

The singing kept getting clearer and closer as I walked on through the night. I was more afraid than ever. The last time I had seen something that looked beautiful, it destroyed everything I loved. I wanted so badly to try to go back to my cabin, but I didn't think it was possible anymore. I was no longer in The Gates. This was the Norse regions. And it wasn't 2012 anymore. I could think hard and I knew the current year: 1894. My father told me once that courage is not the domination over fear, but rather the admission that it's there. If that was the case, then I was the bravest soul walking the forest with the Watchers waiting for me. These weren't monsters I was about to face. They were gods.

The singing was growing louder and louder, until finally I could hear it right in front of me. Tensing up, I leaned around the tree I could hear the singing coming from, ready for the worst.

The Huldra stood before me, pale and enchanting. A crown of pink roses and twigs held her hair in a tight bun, her face a terrifying white to go with her gown, which held a number of small green leaves weaved within the fabric. Her hands seemed to be encrusted with the bark of a tree, much like the one that she was standing in front of. But the tree was withered and barren as much as the forest we were standing in. She looked down at me, then looked over at the tree with sadness.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, as courteously as I could.

The Huldra did not answer. She held out her hand and grasped the tree branch closest to her. The tree instantly sprung back to life, the leaves turning a deep shade of green and the bark a rich earth colored brown. Even the snow covered ground that the Huldra stood on melted away and flowers bloomed beneath her feet. She was almost like Elsa, except she took away the snow and brought life. But could she bring death just as easily?

I wanted to speak again, but I was more fixed on what the tree was doing. A light that came from within it seemed to carve a large hole in it's trunk. When the light went all the way around, carving out the "door", the Huldra glided over to the trunk and opened it. She glanced back to me, and beckoned, the sad expression still on her face. She wanted me to follow her.

And I would have, if the door didn't slam shut the second she went inside. I ran over and tried to force the door open, but it didn't budge. Five times I tried to open the door, practically breaking my arm on the fourth try. I felt it put itself back into place as I tried on the other side of my body to force the door open on the fifth try. After I bounced off the door that time, I heard a screech above.

Two owls had suddenly appeared on the branches above the tree. As soon as I saw them, my focus to that doll came back to me. I got up, and after thinking it over for a second, pointed right at the owl on the left. It screeched at me in return, and it gave me all I needed to know how to open the door.

Remembering the pattern the doll had given me back in that hut, I pointed at the owls in exactly the same order that they were given to me. As soon as I pointed at the owl on the right one last time, both of them screeched in unison, then flew off, the door to the tree swinging open. I didn't think anything at all, because now I knew that there was only one way I could go. No thoughts, no words, and no questions asked, I clambered into the tree.

It was much larger on the inside than I expected. It was dark inside, but a candle on a table nearby lit up the room only slightly, and a letter was right beside it on the desk. However, when I looked closer to read it, things around me began to change once more, and I was no longer where I had been again, nor was I Asgeir anymore.

* * *

_January 1778_

By the candlelight of my office, I read the letter over again. Master Haytham had it sent to me only weeks before, though I hadn't seen the man in over a month.

_Shay,_

_Though I commend you for your services to the Templar Order in the past year, especially with the dispatching of Charles Dorian only a year ago, it gives me regret to know that our business with the Colonies is not yet finished. Both of our efforts to ensure peace in the Colonies have resulted in the deaths of both our brothers Johnson and Pitcairn, at the hands of my own son, Connor. Thomas Hickey recently has been dealt with by him, and now Benjamin Church means to undermine us by defecting to the Loyalists. Through these troubling times, it brings me no other option but to ask the most out of you, though your loyalty to the Order says to me that you will not fail us. I ask that you and Master Gist meet me at the Green Dragon Tavern on the 27__th__of January, as I have a job that may be the most important one of your lives yet. I don't trust a courier to deliver the instructions to you, and request that it be given to you by me personally._

_Sincerely, Grand Master Haytham Kenway._

* * *

I sat back in my chair as I finished reading the letter one last time. Master Kenway was never one to exaggerate, so it troubled me to think that he was saying that this would be the most he was asking out of Gist and I. What could be more than what he had me do, by turning on my own kin who cast me out? Or spending damn near twenty years to find the Box. Though I didn't think of it like most did. The Templars took me in when I was left for dead by the Assassins. I'd give my life, and much more for them if I had to. And from what Master Kenway seemed to imply with how his words spoke of, that was exactly what he expected us to give.

I heard a knock at my office door.

"Captain?" I heard.

I rubbed my eyes. "Come in, Mr. Gist." I replied.

With his black hat of a frontiersman and brown beard, Christopher Gist walked into the office.

"Captain. I trust you received the same letter I was just sent by Master Kenway, correct?"

"Yes indeed, Gist."

"Captain, I don't mean to put words in the Grand Master's mouth, but I think he means for us to leave the Colonies once and for all."

I shook my head, scowling. "You might be right, Gist." I said. "It's that damn native that Achilles took in. I heard Master Kenway's workin' with the boy. That may be our undoin' if he doesn't mean to kill the boy when the time is right."

"You don't seem to have any respect for this boy's convictions, do you Sir?"

"I can't morally have any respect for someone who can still support that old crone after everythin' he has done."

"Yet I have heard things in the Frontier. He's gained the respect of a lot of us hunters, and he's even helped turn the Homestead into a real settlement. I'd say that is worth something on our part. The boy's no less deluded for taking the hood, but what he has done for those close to him is admirable."

I didn't give a real opinion to that. Gist had his ways, and I had mine. I still wasn't sure if I ever respected Achilles. "Let's get going, Gist. Master Kenway is expecting us."

* * *

The Green Dragon Tavern had gone through a lot of changes in the recent years since the Revolution had started. People like the Sons of Liberty had been using it as a place of conspiring, so it was almost fitting that Master Kenway would be asking us to use this place as our meeting. He had made every effort to ensure that we would not be interrupted.

The owner, a woman by the name of Catherine Kerr, took us up to the table at the top floor of the tavern.

"Yer friend said 'ee would be 'ere soon. Told me tah keep this room locked up tight for yah."

"Thank you kindly, Ms. Kerr." Gist said, handing a pound coin to the lady.

She chuckled and walked down the stairs.

Minutes later, Master Kenway walked into the tavern to meet with us upstairs. Gist and I looked down as we saw him walk in, though he was not alone.

The boy was tall, with black hair and olive skin like his native mother. But there was just as much of Master Kenway in him as well. A permanent frown seemed to be branded to his face, and his black hair was tied back in a tail. He wore the hood a lot like the one that I used to wear. Did the old man give them to him and then start teaching him in his sorry and corrupt ways?

"Connor, I must ask that you wait outside." Haytham said to his son.

"Of course, Father." He snarked. "I will do exactly that." Though he did not move.

"Connor."

I noticed the boy glance angrily up at Gist and I as he turned for the door and walked out. Haytham looked up at us as well, and sighed as he walked up to the balcony.

"My apologies, Masters Cormac and Gist. He may be my son, but he still clings onto the hood with a little too much pride."

"I don't see why you keep that boy alive, Master Kenway." I said, Gist and I sitting down. "He may not show yah the same mercy."

"I may have to agree with Shay, Grand Master." Gist said. "From what little I've heard about him in the Frontier, he's going to be a big problem for us sooner than later. I can at least respect him as a hunter, but not at all as an Assassin."

"Let me handle my son, Master Gist." Haytham replied, still standing. "Now onto the matters that we have to discuss."

"Is this about Church's betrayal of the Order, sir?" I asked.

"Not entirely, Shay. No." He replied. "Benjamin Church will be dealt with by me personally once Connor and I track him down. He's escaped our grasp for now. But as for you two, I have something that might be even more delicate than the matter of the Colonial Precursor sites. Can I count on you both?"

"Aye, sir." I replied. "With every bone in my body."

"Excellent." Haytham replied, smiling. "I expected nothing less."

He took a few steps and looked down to the floor below from the edge of the balcony, before coming back to the table and placing a small-medium wooden box on the table.

"I would tell you everything that this mission details, my friends. But unfortunately, this is of the highest sensitivity. Only a small handful of Templars and Assassins alike are even aware of this secret that has been kept locked up since the dawn of our struggle."

"Sir? What are you even talking about?" Gist asked.

Haytham looked down at my first mate, and then at me. "What do either of you believe in? Would anything come as a surprise to you anymore, based on what we have seen of the Precursors?"

"Not anymore, sir." I replied. "Mind controlling apples, swords, a golden blanket that heals all wounds. What else can there even be left that would surprise us?"

"Another world, for a start. Or worlds, plural." Haytham said. As soon as he said it, he looked downwards, aware of what Gist and I were both thinking. Even with all that we had seen, it was still too much. Worlds?! There was still more out there we hadn't found since Columbus landed here in the New World? "I cannot continue of this, though. I have said too much. Except this one last piece: Shay, you have done more for our Order than any one of us can even begin to thank you for. It is because of this, that by completing your mission, I will be installing you as the Grand Master in this New World."

I stood up suddenly. Grand Master? Master Haytham himself thought highly of me just as Monroe did. But to be given such a title? Gist had been in the Order a lot longer than I had, so why was I getting it? I glanced at my first mate, who only gave his old grin and bowed his head.

"You honour me beyond words, Sir." I replied, looking back at him. "But what about the Colonies? I can't leave behind all I held here."

"I am afraid that that is exactly what you will need to do, Shay." Haytham replied. "Both you and Master Gist will never return to this world because of your mission. You are our last hope should we fail in the Colonies. And should I die before our work is done, Charles will take over as Grand Master here. I wish I could explain more, but I can't risk someone listening in." He eyed the edge of the balcony as he said so, maybe checking if his savage son had gone back inside and was now listening. Or if anyone was listening. "This is of the highest sensitivity, and it cannot fall into the wrong hands. I would settle your affairs and make your goodbyes soon enough, gentlemen. Time is of the essence."

"Agreed, sir." Gist said, standing up as well. "We will not let you down."

"Aye." I replied.

"Very well then." Haytham placed his hand over his heart along with me and Gist. "May the Father of Understanding guide us."

"May the Father of Understanding guide us." We recited.

* * *

Back in my cabin of the _Morrigan_, I was going about opening the box while Gist was making the preparations of the ship and the crew for our journey. Haytham told us before we left that we would need her and a proper crew for our quest, so he had gone about hiring people who were in the midst of leaving the colonies, trying to avoid the war. We would need as much help as we could get if we were to succeed.

The box was a reddish brown mahogany with the Templar cross carved into the lid. I undid the latch and flipped it up, looking inside at the various items inside. What jumped out at me at first were the number of Templar rings inside it. I understood what they meant by the number. I was to start a whole new branch from the ground up to this world that we were going to.

I found a folded paper with a wax seal on it, and a date written across it's fold: "To be read by Shay Patrick Cormac, written by Haytham Kenway in the month of July in 1774."

So he had been thinking well enough ahead to write a letter like this several years ago. It looked the lightest shade of yellow just to reflect on it's years it had been tucked away in since. I opened it up, reading closely to what the letter said.

"_Shay,_

_It has been years since I have last seen you, but I have been keeping in steady contact with you since with your continuing efforts to find what I have asked you for. However, your mission with finding the Precursor box is one of the least of my worries now. As of a few weeks ago, William Johnson was murdered at the hands of the Assassin, Connor. Clearly this native has been sought out by Achilles, or more likely, he sought the hermit out himself instead. But now he is a full-fledged Assassin, fully determined to destroy everything that we have secured with the crippling of the Colonial brotherhood._

_But all is not lost, though things are becoming less and less hopeful with each passing week. If you are reading this letter, it means that I have been forced to turn to the last resort a little earlier than I planned to. If so, this means that I doubt my survival if I am unsuccessful in attempting to dispatch the Assassin myself, or at the very least, try to turn him to our cause._

_Over twenty years ago, I was sent by the previous Grand Master of the Order, Reginald Birch, to the Colonies. He had been obsessed with finding Precursor sites, and was sure that there was a site in the valleys of the Frontier, possibly the biggest find in the history of our war. He sent me to the Colonies to establish a permanent branch, and to find the precursor sites there. And now, I ask the same of you._

_In the box, you will find a small item wrapped in white parchment. Not too bigger than the tip of your thumb, it is the key to entering this world. There, I am certain you will find enough nobles and commoners alike who would be more than willing to join our cause there under your guidance. A friend by the name of Keiran Roscoe will be waiting for you when you make port, as he has been a regular contact of mine in this other world. He will be your guide to the land, and will help you try to find the Precursor sites of the kingdom and unearth their secrets. The other documents in the box are all that I was able to gather on the sites there. It is not much, but I may not even know where to begin since I have never been there. If you go there yourself, the clues might show you the way much clearer than they have to me._

_Learn all you can, unearth the secrets, and bring forth the coming of a new world with this mission I have given you, Shay. You may not be able to ever return to this world again, but you can start something new there yourself. Because you have never failed me before, and for that I have faith in you, my friend. May the Father of Understanding guide us all._

_Yours, Haytham Kenway._

Even now, after everything that I had been through, this seemed like the most I was being asked to do. Leaving behind nearly every brother I had ever known in the Order, and starting anew. Though Chris was my closest friend and ally through everything, so I was not leaving behind everyone. Still, I felt as though there was one person left for me to say goodbye to. The Finnegans had both passed away in the first half of this decade, Chris was going with me, and everyone else I cared for I knew would be just fine trying to take on that boy that took the old bastard's son's name.

That boy. Connor. It surprised me how Gist could look at him in one good light, yet still think of him as a fool for taking the hood like I once did. I never thought that one could respect and still hate another. To me it was always one or the other. Because anyone who I hated was not worth my respect if I gave it a first thought. But I only sat there, giving second thoughts. And I hated the one I was thinking of, but in a strange way, I could still respect him for some things. He took me in as a recruit, and made me feel welcome in the Brotherhood at first. Maybe it would be worth it to make one last trip to see what the Homestead had become.

* * *

The place looked much different than it had been when last I had been there. I had Gist drop anchor a few kilometers north of the property, correctly assuming the presence of the _Morrigan _would only call the whole Homestead up in arms. William Faulkner, Adewale's last first mate was now serving on the boy's ship and would probably recognize the very ship that beached his captain before her captain killed him.

Adelwale was the last person I wanted to turn against. I disliked every Assassin equally, but none of them knew their Creed like he did. I truly had hoped he would have forgave me when I ended him.

The only building I remembered from before was the old manor on the hill. Everywhere else I saw new places. This was no longer a homestead to me. It was a real settlement. Though I doubted the old man was the one who invited all these people onto his property. After Abigail and Connor died, he had never been more reclusive. And he still was, from what little I had heard of him.

It became a lot harder to even come close to doing what I came here to do when I reached the door. I heard a few voices inside, but I couldn't make out any of what they were saying. It was late in the afternoon, and no one was walking past the manor, so I thought it be best to look through a window instead, maybe seeing what I came to see that way.

I spotted him in the kitchen. He was sitting down while two people helped out. One was a middle aged man with glasses, who I saw could easily pass for Master Franklin's angry younger brother. The other was a woman working at a wood stove.

"Please, Ellen." Achilles groaned. "I am quite capable of fixing my own meals."

"Achilles, that leg of yours has swollen up again." The man fussed. "You'll have to stay off it completely for the foreseeable future."

"Lyle-"

"Not another word, Achilles. Not one more."

It's what he got from Haytham, that shattered leg. I still think that it was what he deserved, no matter what good he tried to do in the world.

What would I even say to him, I asked myself. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now I saw something else. I wasn't angry at him anymore. He was suffering from his shot knee still, but he had regained, and possibly understood, the sense of community that the Assassins should have been. What he led, were not what I thought a brotherhood would have been. Chevalier loved to torment and ridicule me at every turn, and there was that time he clocked me in the face for simply speaking my mind while we were in the North Atlantic. Kesegowaase and Hope, they just never believed that I had the potential to do any good. And Liam… of all the people I turned to when I saw how Achilles refused to listen to the truth, to blind with grief from his family's passings, I had hoped that even my best friend would have seen the truth. Instead he turned on me like all the rest.

But this was what _had _been of this place. What it was now was what I saw when I was walking up to the manor, seeing the church, and the inn, and the mill. What I saw with those two people as they helped him around the house. The old bastard had found his sense of community that he was missing. It was truly a real symbol of hope. The boy, Connor would fail as I almost knew he would, but I at least hoped that this place would be here to stay for as long as the blood of every person there still ran.

The old man was still arguing of how his leg was "fine" as I got up from my crouched position. I could not bring myself to go inside, though even today I still wonder if it was shame for what I did, or just bitterness towards him.

"I hope yer boy knows the truth, Achilles. I hope he knows everythin'. Of how you failed me, and how yah failed your brotherhood. Of how yer whole world came crumblin' down because you were too busy grievin' for yer family. I hope he knows, or will know." Did he see me? I could have sworn he looked right at me as I finished whispering this to him. "If he does know it, then know this: If I ever return to this world, and he has done what Haytham fears he has; taken every Templar from this life, then I will wipe his existence clean from this world, and every single one of his own recruits, and everyone he truly cares for. If he and I ever face each other once more as we had seen one another today, I will make it worth the savage's time. Farewell, Achilles."

This place was like an old friend I hadn't seen for years, but I was more than glad to see it gone, no matter how much good it brought other people.

* * *

We had been out on the open water for nearly a whole day by the time that I felt that it was time. Gist was getting anxious from all the sailing, and as the sun began to set, he came up from below decks.

"Captain, the crew seem to be getting just as antsy as I am. May I please know more about where it is that we are going?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little object Haytham had left me, handing it to Chris. The key to this world, and the paper that went with it.

"You can do more than that, Mister Gist. I would like yah to do the honours."

He stared down at the little thing. "What do I do with this, Captain?"

"Read the word that is written on the parchment, Gist." I said. "Think of it as hard as you can, and then throw the crystal into the sea as far as you can. I will do the rest."

"Aye, sir." He looked down at the parchment and mouthed the words to himself. "Are...are… Arendelle?"

"Good, Gist. Throw the crystal. We have our destination."

Gist wound back his hand as far as he could, and the crystal shot off the ship and into the water. When it hit it, the water collapsed in on itself and a massive hole appeared. Most of the crew saw this and screamed with fright, and even Gist looked very much spooked. But I only stared down hard as I steered the _Morrigan_ right for the pit.

Arendelle. So that was the name of this kingdom Haytham wanted me to find. To begin the Templars anew there, and ensure that we survive if Connor would not back down. I felt the ship lean forwards deeply as the whole deck became soaked in small droplets of water, the smell of the salt stinging my nose. Then darkness.

* * *

_January 1__st __12:07 AM_

Shay. He had been to Arendelle. After everything he did, and after he killed Dorian, he had been given the key to travel across the gaps of time and space into our world. He must have been the one who started the whole thing. He was the reason that the Templars were in the Enchanted Forest. But that wasn't what truly hit my heart with fright. It was as though I had seen those images as if they were my own memories. But this is not uncommon to feel so, as I learned that the merging of one's memories into another's mind would feel like that.

That was what the Masters had wanted me to see. Something in those pages, Shay had done something in Arendelle. Something that Matthew had hidden to save his own skin. Of that I was sure of.

In the darkness, I stood, hearing a faint dripping sound much like I did when I first met the Masters. Shay had crossed through the boundaries in time and space through the crossings. But the year walk was making me one who snuck through the border instead. Swimming across the rivers instead of taking the bridges. And this was what I needed to see.

Suddenly, she stood before me. The Huldra. She was singing faintly to herself with her angelic voice. Almost reminded me of Anna's.

"Shay Patrick Cormac. Is he who you wanted me to see?"

She opened her eyes. They were white. No irises or pupils. She looked dead at me.

"I have questions. I have found you, so will you answer them?"

She began to twitch…

* * *

Very few have seen the Huldra's face and lived. And even fewer have gone on living after seeing it instead of killing themselves out of fright. And I am the only one who did so, as well as remain as sane as I could. Yet, I found myself back in the woods still screaming at what I had seen in her face. And the other things she had shown me. Though this memory was only a brief flash.

An inn, burning in the middle of a frozen thicket. And a figure clad all in black walking away from it, tossing the torch aside. My blood ran cold when I saw his face. And his eyes. They were cold and dark, and a shape in them. An upside down triangle.

**A/N: None can be more excited for next chapter as I am! See you soon!**


	32. Chapter 32: A Nest of Ice

Chapter 32: A Nest of Ice

"Reports are coming in from all over town, Asgeir." Jason said. "We're the only building in the region that has power right now with our backups set up. The rest of the town shares a whole power grid, so they're all in the dark until they can get their own power restored."

I patted Jason on the back as he got back to work on his unit. "Good work, Jase." I stood up and turned. Lima and X-Ray Teams were waiting for my instructions. "It's clear what's going on here, Assassins. Ingrid knows what we were doing earlier today, and has now taken away the town's power in retaliation. With the rest of the town focused on restoring the power, no one will be looking for her, or think of getting in our way towards finding her ourselves. Zar, do we have any idea where we should start?"  
Zar took out a clipboard with a map of the town. The different sectors of the town were shaded in different colors, and a few arrows were pointing at various locations on the map.

"The blackout interrupted our uplink to the thermometers, but I say we should at least send pairs out to the borders of town and start from there. If we pick up anything unusual in the temperature when the uplink is restored, we might be able to pinpoint where Ingrid is from there, and head directly there from who is outside."

"How long could that take?"

"I don't know, Asgeir. By morning, at the latest. But hours at minimum. As for where we should start, that part is a little easier."

Zar started handing out paper maps of the town with paths drawn out over the various roads.

"From what little we know about how Ingrid works, it's unlikely her lair is in the town itself. I reckon we send our pairs out to the town boundaries and start combing the woods from there." He then looked out at the teams assembled around the Bunker. "So if you have authorization, buddy up with another member of your team and then wait for Geoff and I to give you your locations to cover."

Rory stepped up beside me. "I can go with Asgeir, Zar." He said. "It'll be fine."

"Sure." Zar nodded. "You and Asgeir have a basic one: just head out to the town line on the main road, then start working northwards on foot. Got it?" He handed Rory our copy of the map just in case.

"Surely." He replied. "C'mon, brother."

* * *

Rory had already seemed to easily adapt to how far our technology had passed since he was last here. He was officially declared K.I.A by the Dublin branch back in the 70s, and now was in a world with digital information, automatic sentry drones and the other useless shit on the Internet. Hell, he was like a Neanderthal seeing fire be created when Zar was on Google. Yet, he was taking it with ease. He even helped himself to a spare smartphone and had spent as much of his free time catching up where he could online. He was a fast learner. He sat beside me in the shotgun seat of my pickup, humming along to another of his folk songs, which was blasting from his phone.

When the song was finishing up, he turned his phone off, leaving us drowning in silence; I hadn't spoken at all since we had left Cormac's, just wallowing in the thought of Ingrid still out there, and how she had thought attacking the town's power supply would draw us into one of her traps. I knew better, though. I knew way better than she ever would.

"So this Ingrid's gotta be really evil, right Asgeir?" Rory said.

I said nothing.

"I thought I had faced real brutality at the hands of Zelena, and you really hated her. But I can see it's even worse with Ingrid."

Nothing for a few minutes, before I spoke up.

"I saw both my sisters die at the hands of that…thing, Rory. Of course I hate her. She's evil enough that I can't even think of her anymore as anything else but a monster in human form. An 'it'."

Rory pressed his lips together. "I heard from Jason about your family. The ones you never had met in that brief time I knew you as a kid. You must have known them afterwards, then. How did they even die?"

We were just pulling onto the main road out of town, driving past another set of residential houses on the edge of the woods. I wondered if one of those houses carried another meth lab run by George.

"Asgeir?"

I shook my head. "I don't like to talk about it, Rory. At all. Who could even be able to get so close to it after all that they have seen in this prolonged life that was given to me at the hands of that monster?"

"And yet you were willing to start showing me what happened when Shay started Arendelle's Templar Branch?"

"Because Shay's dead." I replied. "He might be up here in my head, with his ghost taunting me at every turn, but he _is _dead. And Ingrid is not. Ingrid was even worse than Shay because it denied everything that it was. That it wasn't as much a monster as we believed it to be. It saw how Anna and I felt about it. How suspicious it was that it was sealed in an urn for years at the hands of our mother, and then decided that it would be better family for Elsa than us. It tried to get me to kill both of them by cutting my eyes with a knife made of the Shattered Sight mirror, and when I resisted it, it cursed Anna with it and tried to get Elsa to kill her by making it look like she was expressing how she really felt. I think it also was expecting me to be killed by Elsa too, but I resisted the curse as best as I could, for as long as I could. Then Elsa did something that Ingrid didn't expect: Even though Anna threatened her and spat the harshest of words at her, she would not give up on her, as Anna had not given up on her before. She knew that Ingrid had cursed our sister, and saw through the lies. She refused to hurt her, and Anna sealed her in the urn. This was not in Ingrid's plan, and it snatched the urn from Anna. It was going to kill us both, when suddenly, Troy, Rabbit, and Kristoff burst in. I had my chance to kill it with them behind me, but I didn't take it. Because I cared so much about Anna, and I didn't want to spill anymore blood in front of her, even if it was that creature. I…" I swallowed my fury. "It's the one thing I regret the most. I shouldn't have taken Anna into consideration and just killed the freak right then and there."

"Why? Would that have made you feel any better? Elsa wasn't dead. She was only in that urn."

With the steering wheel in one hand, I held my fist up, extending my fingers with each name. "Helga. Hans. Troy. Rabbit. Kristoff. Elsa… Anna. Only half of them were innocent, but none of them should have died at the hands of Ingrid. I might not have seen them die exactly, but I know that someone as twisted as Ingrid would have done just that to both of them. Hans was my kill, and it took that from me. Troy and Rabbit weren't innocent either, but they had hearts bigger than their bloodlust. They cared deeper for the freedom of slaves than their own lives. And Kristoff, Helga, Elsa, and Anna would never hurt a fly. Look what it all got them. And that's not counting the lives I saw lost at the hands of Abstergo and the Templars that we're fighting today out there." The ones that I loved, as well as the ones I fought beside. I had thought love was possible for me in this world, but this war showed me that it was not unless if I was willing to put aside mercy and cut down anything that got in my way.

Rory didn't respond, because deep down, he could see that I was right, I hoped. Showing any mercy for something who would not give you the same is the real fatal mistake. I should have learned that before Ingrid killed

"Ingrid then froze all of Arendelle with a wave of it's hand. I saw them all be reduced to frozen statues in front of me. As for Elsa, I doubt Ingrid had much use for her since she refused to kill Anna and me. She's certainly dead as well. More than likely destroyed the urn with her in it."

"Wait, hang on. Back up, brother." He said. "You said that she froze Arendelle and everyone in it instantly. So how were you the only one who got out alive?"

I shook my head. "It's what scares me just as much as everything I've learned during my exile: I have absolutely no idea. Ingrid clearly didn't want me to live as well, and when freezing the whole land didn't work, it froze my heart instead, which _did_ work. In a way. But both the frozen heart and the Shattered Sight in my eyes were not meant to go together in the same person. Now I'm trapped in immortality. I can't die no matter what befalls me. You know what it's like to feel a bullet getting driven through your skull, and get up after that? I've been stabbed, shot, impaled. Neck broken as many times as they were able to try before I returned the favor. I don't think it's even possible to count the amount of volts Daniel Cross pumped through me when he hooked me up to a number of car batteries at once. But you know what did kill me on the inside? Seeing people I cared for die at the hands of Abstergo agents. People I tried to love after having everything I loved ripped away from me to never return. I was a soldier fighting a war that doomed me from the start, Rory. And Ingrid may not be the one responsible for _all _of my pain and suffering, but everything that happened started by it's hands. Fact. And you know what I have realized in the recent weeks? Now I am dying for real. The ice in my heart has finally reached it's homestretch. I couldn't resist it forever, and now that I'm in a place with magic for the first time in recent years, it's job is now starting back up again. I'm going to freeze to death unless I kill Ingrid. That's the only way, Rory."

"But I thought it was said that 'only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart'?"

"Look at me. You think it's possible for me to ever love again, after all I've been through? Everything that I have seen, everything I have done, and everything that has been done to me, I want nothing more than to die after it all. But I can't just yet. My work is not yet done. And when I kill Ingrid, then I can do what I have owed myself for so long, and take the rest I earned. The eternal one."

Rory said nothing for a few minutes. The dark forest road wound round the corners and dove through the small hills as we headed closer to the boundary line.

"I can't blame yah, brother. You've earned your rest a thousand times more than most of us can ever dare to say. But think hard about how much you wanted to get even with Zelena because of what she did to me and Neil. I can't speak for him, but I can speak for this Irishman, and I wouldn't want you to lose your way trying so hard to get even with her for everything she did to me. I was only doing what an Assassin would do, and I knew the risks when I signed up for this. I was only being an Assassin, and Zelena turning me into a monkey was an occupational hazard."

"Occupational hazard?" I laughed. "So does that mean that you wanted to be turned into Zelena's slave? Fine. But that doesn't excuse Ingrid. It never will. My sisters didn't sign up for anything when they were killed by that monster! They were innocent, and that didn't matter to the freak. So attacking innocents like that? That's why Ingrid deserves every ounce of suffering I will inflict on it!"

"Asgeir, you're not listening. Zelena got what was coming to her, and you didn't need to do anything about it. I'll bet even Ingrid will dig her own grave by her own efforts alone without you hunting her down."

She was reckless and stupid enough to do something like that. But she was just as smart with her enemies as she was stupid in thinking her actions had no consequences. I doubted even she would dig her own grave. I would do that for her and send her right into it. No one would play judge or jury to her when she deserved it, so I would play the first two, and add executioner to that.

"So what do you expect me to do? Roll over and give up? Never." I said. "The scum that killed my family and the brothers is beyond redemption."

"She is if you think so. And if so, by all means, kill her in cold blood. Slice her open and let her blood spill over everything and everyone in sight. The paved streets and the innocent people of this town. See what that gets you."

I squeezed the steering wheel. "Justice for me when a broken system couldn't deliver."

Rory hadn't heard me. He was looking out front. "Well, that's something new."

He was talking about what was blocking the road as we rounded the bend. A giant wall of ice that went in either direction as far as we could see. Neither of us could see where the height of the wall stopped, as it pierced through the canopy of the tree branches above. I killed the engine, keeping my eyes glued to the wall as Rory pulled out his two-way. He was just about to report our find when the whole line lit up with various voices.

"Mentor this is Kingshark." I heard Zar's voice first.

"Mentor this is-"

"Reporting on a giant wall of ice-"

"Most likely circles the whole town-"

"Mentor, please advise."

"Mentor-"

"Ment-"

I ignored the chattering of the radio altogether as Rory tried to get his word in. It was clear to me right when I saw the wall that the town was sealed off once again. Ingrid would not take our monitoring of it's store lightly, and wanted to pay us back for it. I noticed a power line lying on the road right in front of the wall as I reached in the backseat, pulling out the rifle Keif had given me.

"What do yah bet that that power line was what caused the town's power to go out?" Rory said. "Ingrid must have knocked it down when putting up the wall."

I checked the rifle's ammo. Six shells locked and loaded. Plus my revolver with six Bullets of Eden, my Rope Blades and my air rifle strapped to my back with a shrapnel grenade. Any one of them would do. Rory knew what I was thinking, and we both opened the doors and stepped out.

The air was cold as we expected it to be, sticking to us like a shroud through the spring air.

"It's here." I said, mostly to myself, feeling it's presence. "I can feel it. Ingrid is close."

"I don't know, Asgeir." Rory said. "This doesn't feel right."

I glanced at him, shouldering the rifle. "What isn't right about this? It's ripe for the killing and just a hundred feet away from us."

"Just think about it. Ingrid sends a snow monster to attack us, and then less than a day puts up a wall of ice to keep us in here? And you say that's she's close by. Well, listen here: If she was smart in any way, then why is she makin' it so easy for us to find her? Brother, I'm feeling some kind of a trap. So I reckon we stay here until Matthew and Keaton send out reinforcements, and at least have a plan ready."

Rory grabbed his two way out to call it in with the chatter slowing down, but just then, we saw a police car approaching from behind. I waved to it with my free hand. I heard it's siren bleep a few times, then David and Emma got out.

"Asgeir. Rory." She said. "You know something about the wall?"

"'twas here when we got here, lass." Rory said. "We reckon whoever made that snow monster that rampaged through town made the wall too."

"Yeah, that's a good guess." David said. "You carrying guns wherever you feel now?"

"It's to take care of what made the wall. Get used to us carrying." I snapped.

David was taken a bit aback, but held his hands up. "Fine. But are you sure we can't just talk to who made this wall?"

"No." I said.

A light appeared out of the trees off of the road, and Hook stepped out with a lantern.

"In case you were wondering, it goes the whole way 'round." He said.

"Hook. I didn't know you were joining us." David said with distrust. I guess he didn't approve of the man now that he was with his daughter.

"Well, I get a distress call from a fair maiden, and I'm on the spot."

"I was not distressed." Emma said. "And you're saying this wall goes around what- the whole town?"

"Aye." I replied. "We got all our hands spread out across town and they just reported saying the same thing everywhere."

"So once again, we can't leave Storybrooke." David groaned. Typical of this town.

"Doing more than keeping us inside by the looks of that." Hook said, glancing at the fallen power line. "Guess that's what caused the loss of power?"

"Look at your becoming a 21st century man." Emma replied, grinning. She looked back at the wall. "Yeah. It looks to me like whoever was putting up the wall wasn't trying to take out the lights. They were just putting up the wall."

No, it was trying to kill two birds with one stone by doing one to cause the other. Two eagles to be exact.

"To keep us in. But why?" David said.

Easy answer. "Slaughter us all, one by one." I replied, still glaring at the wall, not daring to take my eyes off it. It was around, and if it showed up near that wall, it would be too late for it.

Rory kept his hand to his radio as he called in for reinforcements. Zar and Jason said they would both try heading that direction, as well as Marc and Willis guiding their teams to the location. Emma and Hook chatted about whatever as I tightened my grip on my rifle, almost daring to grab my revolver with it. Something was wrong here, and I wasn't letting my guard down any second soon.

Suddenly, I noticed something. Something Emma noticed as well. A shape, moving in the stalagmites on the edge of the wall. I could see it's blonde hair.

"I think I see something by the wall." Emma said. "You, uh, wait here with the ice bucket while I check that out."

"Emma, don't!" I said, raising my rifle towards the wall.

"Asgeir, calm down. I'm just gonna check it out. I'll be okay."

Yeah, of course she would. And then her life would be the eighth light snuffed out by that creature. After that, I don't think I could get anywhere further with the amount of suffering I planned to put her through. Emma disappeared into the batches of ice and that was it.

"Rory, rifle up, and do not drop it no matter what." I ordered.

"Aye." He said, taking his shotgun out of the truck cab and aiming it at the wall.

Thirty years. Thirty goddamn years of misery, watching everything ripped away from me while I stayed alive, cursed at the hands of that thing that thought it had more right to my family than one that would never kill any of his, no matter what he was told. I had my hood taken from me because of what her curse led me to do, and spent seven years alone in hell. This was it, and if Emma died, she would as well, but a lot slower. As slow and painful as I could make it.

Emma was taking a few minutes too long for the others' comfort, so David and Hook started walking for the wall. Rory and I followed, still holding up our guns.

"Emma!" David called when he reached it.

"Stay back!" We heard her reply reply.

I stalked forwards with eagerness, my teeth nearly grinding down to a powder. Rory and I caught up to them, when I saw it beside her. A flash of blonde hair in the ice a few feet from Emma. Clever girl…

"DIE, MONSTER!" I hollered, shotgun blasts and cold spittle filling the air around me with the snowflakes swirling around.

I wasn't trying to kill it, but scare it to back off from Emma. And it looked to work too well. Rory jumped backwards and landed on his backside on the wet pavement as more stalagmites sprouted up suddenly. David and Hook reared back in just as much surprise as Emma fell backwards against the ice. She sounded as though she was trying to warn us against Ingrid, but that wasn't necessary. I kept pulling the trigger on my rifle, even when I ran out as snow came down in a small avalanche from the top of the wall. Emma was now trapped in the cold with Ingrid, and no way out.

* * *

"The device, call her!" Hook cried.

He was talking about the two-way, and David understood. He took his out and hit it.

"Emma! Are you in there?!"

Static. Nothing but literal dead air. That's eight.

"I'm getting her out!" Hook jumped for the wall.

"NO!" I cried, punching my hand into the wall do hard, I felt my fingers shatter and then reset themselves in an instant. I couldn't have another one gone. The Savior's blood was now on it's hands. "Even if you could, what Emma's now trapped with is going to kill her regardless. David, I'm sorry. But Emma's-"

"No." David said, simply. "I don't wanna hear it. And you, Asgeir! You get trigger happy that close to my daughter one more time. One more time, Asgeir!"

Hook wasn't listening to me, and climbed up, hacking away at the wall with his hook. I slammed my fist into the wall as I stayed on ground level.

"Gods damn you to the deepest hell, Ingrid." I snarled under my breath as the other two tried feebly to get in. "I will destroy you."

Nothing was doing anything. David tried to stop Hook from continuing to chip away, but he wouldn't have it. "I'm not giving up!"

"We won't, but this is not getting us anywhere!" He replied.

"Well, I'm open to suggestions."

"A flamethrower." I replied. "We get our flamethrower operator down here, he melts it down, and I get her bones out."

David was horrified that I would even think that of Emma, even if it was the truth. I could see it in his face as he looked down at me and Rory.

Shay was leaning against the wall beside David. "Well, now we're in a real pickle, aren't we? He's terrified for his daughter, Asgeir." He said. "I mean, how can you even suggest that she's already dead, even if it is the truth? The truth is oft the most painful thing we can find. Especially when it's hidden from us for so long. Though why does he still make an effort like that? A dead woman's not worth the effort to get back."

"No." David replied to my suggestion. "Magic made this wall, so I think we're gonna need magic to unmake it. And I'm not gonna stop fighting until we do."

"His funeral." Shay chuckled.

David tried for his radio again. "Emma, can you hear me! Emma, are you okay, say something!"

Static for a few minutes, but then we got a reply. One that shocked me. "Dad, can you hear me?"

Well, shit. She was alive. But why did Ingrid trap her and then keep her alive? Was it baiting me to come in if it kept Emma alive?

Hook grabbed the two-way from David's hands. "Emma! Say again?"

"I'm in here with this woman. She's looking for her sister, Anna. And her brother. But she's not giving his name. Says he keeps it secret. She thinks they're both in town, because she found a necklace of hers in Gold's shop."

…no. No. No, it couldn't be her. That was impossible. Unthinkable! Rory was making the same expression as me, but he was not feeling the same sense of dread and anger I felt boiling in my frozen heart. It was one thing for her to kill everyone I cared for, but to pretend to be Elsa to lure me in there? I was smarter than that.

"David, that 'woman' that Emma's with is lying. SHE'S LYING!" I snarled, climbing up to him. "Don't listen to what she says. That's just what she wants."

But David wasn't paying attention. Because then came the ultimatum.

"She wants us to try to find her before-"

"Before I freeze this town and everyone in it."

I fell to my knees in the frost. Could she even mimic voices to go along with it? It sounded exactly like Elsa. Exactly like her in every way, no matter how impossible it was. But magic made the very thought of impossibility moot. Why did it even want Anna? It already killed her. But I already knew the answer to that. It wasn't after Anna. It was after me and waiting for me to let my guard down.

David and Hook only looked at each other with silence. I tapped him on the shoulder.

"The radio." I managed to say through my rage. "H-hand it over."

David obliged, though not without his fear. I gripped it tightly in my hands as I stood up, facing the wall of ice.

"Emma, are you there?" I said.

Silence. Was she talking with it?

"Emma, listen to me. That thing down there is not what it appears to be. You can't talk with it, or reason with it because both those things mean nothing to it. Let me talk with it and you'll see what I mean."

No response. For a few moments. Then I heard a familiar and shaky voice.

"A-a-Asgeir?"

It was hers. I took the radio wanting to check, but now I was sure of it. I had no doubt in my mind that it was a perfect replication of my sister's voice. Clearly she had gotten very good in the deceptive magic. David and Hook started climbing down off the ice while I sat there alone to speak with her.

"It's been a while, monster."

"Is that you?!"

I took no notice. "You hurt that woman you're with, and I swear to you, I'll start with your fingers. Break every one of 'em." I growled low and slowly. "Make sure you never cast anymore of your hocus pocus shit."

"…where's Anna?"

I narrowed my eyes as I kept staring at the wall. "You know damn well where she is. Why don't you check that mirror of yours if you forgot? By the way, nice job trying to mimic my other sister's voice. Thought you could fool me though, right? You're literally dead wrong! I know what you are better than anyone!"

"Why are you talking to me this way? I saw you in the town earlier. You called me a 'freak' before, and you're calling me one right now. What's happened to Anna?"

I stood up, ignoring the question. She was trying to get me to say something, I guessed. "I'm not giving you any chance to hand that woman back unscathed, monster. Do what you will with her. Neither killing her, nor sparing her will stop what comes next. You've killed enough people to count on all my fingers, but along with all you did to me, it's enough to make sure you die. Slowly, in every way I will know you fear. Pliers, hammers, knives, car batteries, the possibilities are endless. Then when I've run out of ideas, and I've used everything I could get my hands on to hurt you, I'll do it all over again. And again. And again. Until you finally know what pain you did to me with everything you did to me and my sisters."

"I _am _your sister, Asgeir!" The voice cried, the sound of tears in her voice. "What's happened to you?!"

"Oh, enough of your LIES!" I roared. "MY SISTERS ARE DEAD! THANKS TO YOU! You pathetic, monstrous waste of life! I should have killed you the second I laid my eyes on you! Hurt that woman, and not even the coldest blizzard you can summon will protect you."

I heard Emma's voice come from the radio trying to talk to me suddenly, but the boiling blood in my ears prevented me from hearing it as I tossed the radio back down to David. He looked up at me strangely. Hell, all three of them did as I climbed back down.

"We don't show mercy when we get Emma out. Just let me take care of this. Let me take care of _it._"

"Where are yah fellahs goin'?" Rory asked as he saw Hook and David heading to the patrol car.

"Gold's. He might be able to help. Can you come with us?"

I glanced back at the wall. I would normally have protested going to that prick for help, but I was more focused on the one at the top of my list being less than twenty feet away under all that ice. It was obvious to me that David wanted me to come there so he would stop me from killing Ingrid if it came out of that ice cave. "I'm not leaving in case that wall comes down and Emma's already dead. That monster in there cannot escape from me again."

Rory pulled out his two-way. "Mentor, where is our reinforcements? Primary target now has a hostage."

"We are already there." Came a reply.

Three white vans pulled up past the trucks and stopped right in front of the wall. Matthew, Keaton, Jason, Zar, Marc, Willis, and Torren jumped out along with teams with rifles.

"We'll be calling in for more troops if you can confirm that she's down there." Matthew said as he walked back from the wall towards us.

"Bitch is down there, and she's got Emma. It's not lookin' good." Rory said.

"Understatement. Especially when that hostage is the Savior herself." Shay said.

"It's more than that." I replied. "She's pretending to be Elsa. I heard her through Emma's two-way. Thinks mimicking her is gonna let my guard down and make me go in alone. I'm staying here for when she finally comes out."

"Leave this alone, Asgeir." Matthew replied. "She's not getting out there without facing us, and none of us are stealing the kill. It's all you. We'll radio you if anything changes."

Zar patted me on the back, and Rory gestured for me to get in the truck. I would have stayed as long as I needed to before Ingrid gave up waiting for me to come in, and come out. But I knew what they were doing here. They were there to order me to leave so that I wouldn't brutalize it. I didn't say anything, but I complied.

* * *

David shoved the door to Gold's open, the bell clanging loudly. The Imp and his newlywed wife, Belle were both at the desk. I still couldn't believe a smart girl like her would do one of the stupidest things alive, since I knew he had lied to her, pretending to give her the Dagger so he could kill Zelena.

"It appears our honeymoon is over." He growled as the three of us walked up to the desk.

"Yeah, there's an emergency. Emma's trapped under ice by a woman with some kind of ice magic."

"And this involves me because…?"

"Hah! Cause you're the fucking Dark One, Imp. You think we have other options about who to turn to?" I snapped.

"Well, I could melt the ice and destroy it with a thought. But that would also destroy your girlfriend." He said to Hook. "Is that what you want?"

"Great!" Shay said in the Imp's face. "It would be very worth it to kill Ingrid and Emma at the same time than save them both. We will gladly take that offer!"

Shay wasn't wrong, as I hated to admit it. I knew it would be worth it, though no one else in the room knew that. It would get me nowhere, trying to reason with these people. They didn't believe in killing, and one day it would come around to ruin them all.

"No one's destroying anyone." David said.

"Except Asgeir destroying the one who had the Savior trapped down there in the first place. Why aren't any one of you idgets listenin' to Asgeir here?!" Shay snarked.

It was taking all my ounces of resistance to stop myself from making another outburst. If I made another one, they'd turn on me instead of focusing on letting me kill Ingrid.

"Now, the woman who has Emma trapped is in there with her, and she's looking for her siblings. A brother with no name and her sister- name of Anna. She thinks they're both in town because of something of hers in your shop: a necklace."

Belle then looked down at one of the slips on the desk and pulled it out. "Is that it?"

It was like out of a pleasant dream. Though this was nothing more than a cruel jape by the hands of it. Ingrid was taunting me by taking every little thing that mattered to me at the time to try to lower my guard. The necklace was the same one that Elsa had made for Anna for her wedding. But the photo showed it badly bent and warped. How did she get it? More importantly, how did the Imp acquire it?

"Wait." David looked down at the necklace's slip. "I know this." Then he looked up at me. "I know exactly who Anna is, Connor."

I knew what he meant by that, calling me by my alias, but it didn't matter. "David, this is a trap. That is not my sister down there with Emma, and you cannot trust what she is saying. They are both gone." Then I glared at Rumplestiltskin. "And where in seven hells did you even get this?" I held up the slip.

Rumplestiltskin scoffed. "I have many items in this shop of mine, from many deals I have made over the years. You think I keep a full ledger of how I obtained everything I have collected from those who couldn't pay up?"  
I glared hard at him, but kept quiet. I still remembered what he did to Anna, and while everyone here seemed to have forgotten what kind of monster he was, I didn't. And I knew how to get him out of my way now. I'd use that card soon enough.

David wasn't listening, though. None of them were listening to me! He only went straight for the door and beckoned for me and Hook.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing now, shepherd?" I said as we crossed the street. Hook had headed off in a different direction after he spoke with David for a minute.

"Bo Peep's Crook."

More and more ghosts of memories. "Come again?"

"When you and I first met, we took down Bo Peep after she had branded you and Anna with her Crook. You had her remove you from the Crook, but I don't think Anna was released from it."

I had to think hard about it for a second, trying best not to think about how pointless it all was since Anna was dead, but in the end, David was right. Anna never was taken from the brand of the Crook, so there could be a way to find her. Maybe by trying to sound like we were giving Ingrid what it wanted, it would walk right out into the open for me to get the drop on it. Though I doubted even that would work. But all I needed was one second with it's head out for me. And I wouldn't miss that shot.

David opened the door to the shop we were standing in front of and we both stepped inside. It was a butcher's store, evident by the whole room reeking of meat She stood there at the counter with a cleaver, chopping up a steak or something. I really didn't care. I was more focused on who it was and how I hadn't seen her in so long. Bo Peep. Wearing a hair net and a butcher's apron. I'd have laughed at the sight of her if she didn't look so pitiful. Here was one person I took down that I could at least show some pity for.

She noticed us both, though gave a much more scornful look at me. "Sorry lambkins. We're closed."

"I need your help." David replied, his hands on the counter.

She only sneered. "You and me- we ain't friends. And him, I don't even speak to his kind. I'm not interested. Get out!"

"Sorry, love." I replied. "But you don't have your lapdogs… or herd with you anymore, Peep. So you're not in a position to say no to either of us."

She grinned as she almost seemed to struggle to stand up straight. "Right. I just 'ave one. Say 'ello!"

I saw that cleaver flying at me ten minutes ago. David jumped out of the way, but it flipped through the air and slammed right between my eyes, cutting my face in half. It hurt. A lot. I fell down on my knees, breathless and soundless, then onto my back, my eyes rolling up into my head. David looked down at what had happened to me in horror as blood trickled down into both my eyes, before I got right back up, yanking the cleaver out from the bridge of my nose, wiping the blood out of my eyes.

"Right. About helping us?" I said, like it was nothing. "We're not asking again."

Peep was even more scared than David. That cleaver sliced my head open, and I just got back up like I skinned my ankle. She went for the knifes on the wall rack, but Hook suddenly came from the back room and grabbed her.

"Don't do it!" He snapped.

David grabbed Peep and slammed her against the wall, clutching her wrist.

"What's the deal wiff' the Assassin? 'e some kind of phantom now?"

"What afflicts me doesn't concern you anymore, Peep. Give us what we want, and do it quick."

"Now, my daughter's in trouble and I need to find the person that can help her- someone you branded."

"I branded a lot of people."

"Her name was Anna." I said. "She went by 'Joan' back then. She was my _sister_!"

"Do I look like I keep a record book? Cause I don't." She looked over at me. "And I wouldn't even tell _you_ especially if I could remember 'er, Assassin. Got you to thank for this."

She patted her outer thigh. I noticed that it was in a brace, and then I saw the crutch propped against her counter. Then it all came back to me. I tortured her to take the brand off me by cutting her leg with my sword. It left a massive wound on her, damaging her leg so badly, she was now walking with a crutch. Was my freedom worth that, even if she was a Templar? Was her ring worth it? I tried hard not to show the doubt on my face. She might have not deserved that, but I had to remind myself that Ingrid deserved everything that was coming to it the second it walked out of the ice cave. If I didn't doubt myself wanting to kill it, then I shouldn't have for crippling Bo Peep.

"Hook!" Back room." David ordered, not taking his eyes off her. "She won't keep it far from her. You're looking for a shepherd's crook."

Bo Peep tried to wriggle away at the mention of her Crook, so I pulled out my revolver to quiet her down, aiming it right at her head. But she only started shouting when Hook returned with the Piece of Eden. Still with the same stupid flowers all over it.

"'ey. 'ey!" She cried. "That's my personal property! Give it up!"

"Sorry." David said, pushing her off as Hook and I started for the door.

"Ah. So in this world, you're a hero?" She mocked.

David shook his head. "In this world, I don't have to answer to you." He replied.

"None of us answer to you." I said, reaching under my shirt. One of my chains of Templar rings was there, and hers was on that one. "Miss this?"

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you, Assassin."

"Let's go find Anna. Hook?" David said.

Hook had the two-way out, the grim horror painting his face a new shade of dread. "It's that woman, Elsa. She said Emma's passed out. She's freezing to death."

Shay shook his head. "Tut tut tut. They really should have listened to yah, mate."

* * *

The barricade of Assassin vans was still there when we returned, and several sentry guns were deployed, pointing directly at the wall. David and Hook ran up to the wall to try to take it down, while I ran over to one of the open vans. Matthew and Keaton were sitting by there, wearing thick jackets with the Assassin logos on the lapels. Guess the cold was getting to them as much that they would wear them over their hoodies.

"Any change?"

"Temperature around the wall has dropped considerably since you left. If this is Elsa, then it's the stress most likely that's causing the temperature to keep falling."

I heard my teeth crack under my jaw clenching. "How many times do I have to say it? That's not Elsa down there! It's clearly Ingrid. Why else would Emma end down there unless she was meant to?"

Keaton got up from his seat. "Asgeir, just hear me out. What if Elsa was still alive?"

I was appalled. "Why are you even asking this question?! You know the answer to it."

"From what we heard over the radio chatter we intercepted, there could be a very good chance that that really is her down there. I mean, did you even see her die in front of you?"

I said nothing for a minute in doubt. More towards myself than him. Was I so sure indeed that Ingrid had killed Elsa? It had wanted Anna and me dead, but it wanted Elsa for it's own. I was so sure Elsa would have been nothing more than dead since she would not bend to Ingrid's will. That was why I was so sure she was dead; if she wouldn't bend for Ingrid, she would have broken. But I had to have seen her body, or at least a dagger through the neck to be sure. That was the rule. And I broke it. I was realizing more and more that for all this time that I thought Elsa dead, that this might not have been the case. But just as I was about to go back to accepting this possibility, I felt that light snuff itself out. I couldn't take any chances anymore. I had to

"Elsa is dead." I said, angrily. "That is a certainty. If we believe otherwise, especially right now, with a hostage in it's hands, then we're digging Emma's grave along with ours. I want our guns trained on that wall right now, and we keep them up. When Emma and that… _thing_ come out, open fire."

"But Emma-"

"Emma's already dying. When Ingrid realizes we're not being fooled, it'll kill Emma before coming out to face us all." I looked out to all the Assassins around the van. "I want all guns trained on the wall." No response until I shouted. "NOW!"

Most of the troops jumped and unholstered their guns. Matthew and Keaton only glanced at each other as I pulled my own shotgun out and we started towards the wall. The Assassins assembled into a firing line as they staggered apart and aimed their guns at the wall. David was in the midst of talking into the two-way to get Ingrid to open the wall.

"I know how you feel. You're trapped. It's a battle you can't win, but it's exactly the kind of battle you have to fight, or you'll die."

I heard a faint response, but the radio was too far away. David was falling into the trap, paying no attention to the firing line.

"Survival isn't enough. You have to live."

David smiled as he heard the reply. "You know where." He paused to let her speak. "Yeah, I did. She helped me once a long time ago become who I am. And Asgeir, your brother, is a great friend of mine. He's a lost soul trying to find atonement for his sins. He's just as lost as you are, Elsa, and he needs you as much as you need Anna. Maybe even further gone. He lost all his hope. But you can bring it back to him."

Yes. David was right. I almost felt my eyes sting slightly as I leaned hard into my rifle's stock. I wanted both of my sisters back, and even Kristoff, and especially Troy and Rabbit. But they were all gone. That was something I couldn't do, nor could David. I could only avenge them.

"They saved my life, and yours, and now I need you to save Emma's. I didn't know much about Anna, even though I know Asgeir well. But I know that she wouldn't want you to live alone in an ice cave, which is where you'll be if you don't melt that ice." David said. "Now do it!"

I almost felt my breath catch in my throat. How David was speaking, and how much "Ingrid" was committed into selling that she was Elsa? It was starting to make me think that this really could be her. Was that her?

"What are your orders, Reaper?" I heard one of the Assassins say.

I shook off the nostalgia. "Disregard what David is saying. Proceed as expected, but fire on my command only. On my command only!" I needed to be sure it was her.

Silence fell over the entire area. Everyone stood tense in the firing line, and no one over by the vans even breathed loud enough for Rabbit to hear. David and Hook were up at the wall in front of the firing line, unsure of what was coming next.

Then, starting small and growing with each moment, we saw a light form in the ice. It grew brighter and bigger, forcing a hole through the wall down.

"It's working!" Hook cried. "I can see her! Emma!"

The two of them reached through the small hole in the wall, pulling the two people out. Emma came out first. Then her companion.

I fell to the ground as I saw her, dropping the shotgun. "No, no, no." I breathed. "It can't be."

"Asgeir? I don't think that's Ingrid." Zar said as he walked up from behind me. I felt the firing line suddenly put their weapons down, then dissolve away, leaving me the only one left there.

I felt my heart suddenly freeze up. Or maybe it stopped. Then it was pounding hard and fast as I faced down on the wet pavement, my shotgun only a few feet from me.

"It can't be her!" I whispered, looking down on the black pavement, refusing to look up at her. It was nothing more than a hallucination by Ingrid's hands. She was still trying to fuck with me. "It just can't! It's a trick!"

"It's no trick, Asgeir." Jason said.

I heard David and Hook walk by as they carried Emma off towards the car. An Assassin threw a blanket over her as they passed. I looked back to see this, but then only looked down at the pavement, shivering and shaking. This wasn't real. It couldn't have been her! MY SISTER WAS DEAD! HOW COULD INGRID DO THIS TO ME AGAIN?! HAD'T I BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH?!

"Jason?" I heard her say.

"Your Majesty." He replied. "Clearly Asgeir needs to see this for himself.

I saw a sparkled blue skirt just at the top of my eyesight. Then a familiar chill in a hand as it took my chin. I was so close to shaking it off, grabbing my revolver, and shooting it. But I didn't. I only looked up.

Same baby blue eyes. Same blonde French braid. Same warm smile to counter her cold magic. I was shaking as I saw her somewhat confused smile as she knelt down to my eye level.

"I'm here, Asgeir. No matter what you ever say to me, I love you. I'm here."

I suddenly jumped and nearly broke her ribs in the biggest hug I ever gave someone. I was sobbing the hardest I ever had before, crying as I got so close to her, I think I had caught her braid in my teeth. It was just as cold as she was. The friendly one.

**Cue Arkham Knight "All Who Follow You"**

I heard Matthew say something through his two way before blanking out. I felt someone pull me and Elsa up, but I refused to let go of her as we were walked over to the closest white van. We took a seat inside as Zar and Rory sat across from us, both of them shocked and amazed at the sight of her as I still held onto her as hard as I could. Neither of them had ever met her before, but I think they were more shocked at how she was still alive. I could almost feel frost gather on my hands from her, but I still would not let go of her. My only family left was still alive…

* * *

The convoy of vans stopped at the apartment, and the next thing I knew, I was walking into the apartment with Elsa, Jason and Rory. David and Hook sat Emma down in a chair while Elsa covered her in a blanket.

"Emma?"

She was too close to freezing to death, she could barely nod.

"She's so cold." Hook said as he entwined his fingers around hers.

"Fire." I said, jumping for the fireplace. I took out my lighter and built a small pile of sticks, lighting them up and starting a fire. Then the lights came back on.

Rory grinned. "There's more good coming out of tonight."

Hook reached into the other room and pulled out a heater, setting it down right in front of Emma.

Now she was able to speak as we all did our best to warm her up. Elsa didn't even pay attention to how warm it was getting in here. "Oh, that's good."

"I'll go make some hot cocoa." Henry said.

"Wait-" His mother gasped.

He only grinned. "I know. With cinnamon."

Emma embraced her son. "I'm sorry if I wasn't much help earlier, kid."

"I'm just glad you're okay. I was already down to one mother and I won't go lower than that."

Emma looked up at me and Elsa. She was teary eyed. "Elsa, you okay?"

She swallowed. "I may have my brother back, but I still have lost Anna. And now her necklace, too. Now I have nothing of hers."

"But you have me, Elsa. If I'm enough." I said. "And I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what's going on. Questions I may have answers to. But first I need to know something that I know it the most important: what was the last thing you remember seeing of me and Anna?"

She didn't seem to be mentioning Ingrid, or even realizing I meant what I had said towards that ice freak and not her. Which made me realize one thing that Elsa confirmed for me.

"Last I remember seeing of you and Anna, you were on the ship leaving for Misthaven."

That bitch… She must have stolen Elsa's memories somehow. Which meant she had no idea of what had happened after we returned. She wanted to try again in manipulating Elsa against me and Anna, thinking that hitting a reset button would give her the advantage.

"Where's Anna, Asgeir?"

I shook my head. "I thought she was with you." I said. And it was the truth. I thought they both were dead.

David walked over with Bo Peep's Crook. "Let's find her."

Elsa took it, holding it up and looking through it. After a few moments, she shook her head. "I don't see anything." She said.

"It should work." David said under his breath.

Unless… Anna really did serve no use for Ingrid anymore, and she _was_ dead.

"Is it broken?" Hook asked.

"I don't think so." I said. "Peep wouldn't keep a broken Crook.

"Or does it mean something happened to her?" Elsa realized.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, almost ready to tell her the fate Anna had faced at that monster's hands. "Elsa…"

Emma looked up. "Wait, what's that sound?"

I heard it too. A small thumping sound. A heartbeat. Coming right from the crook.

"It's Anna's." I said, a massive wave of relief hitting me. Both my sisters were still alive! Two miracles in one night.

"We might not know where your sister is, but we know the most important thing." Emma said.

Elsa nodded, grinning. "She's alive."

The door opened and Snow walked in with the baby. "Who's alive?" Then she saw my sister. "Oh! Who are you?"

"Uh…" I laughed a little. "Elsa, this is Snow White. A dear good friend of mine. Snow, this is Queen Elsa of Arendelle. My half-sister."

"We're gonna find their other sister." David said, going over and putting an arm around his wife. "That's what this family does. We find people. We always do. Because we really, really don't like to give up."

Elsa smiled as I slid my hand around her. "Reminds me of another family, shepherd. Ours."

Rory and Zar were flies on the wall until now. "We better head back to base, Asgeir."

"Right." I said. "Elsa? You coming?"

She smiled. "Absolutely."

* * *

Elsa agreed to stay at Cormac's for the time being while we looked for Anna. Rory, Zar and I walked up to the door with her close by.

"Lima Team returning from objective." Rory called up at the camera.

"Confirmed." We heard from the two-way.

The door unlocked and we walked in. Assassins came and went throughout the whole tavern. Most were sitting down, talking as Keaton and Matthew approached.

"Your Majesty." Matthew said as they both bowed their heads. "We're honored to have you here. Welcome to Cormac's, our safehouse here in Storybrooke."

"What is all this?" She asked, looking around. Some Assassins looked up from their pints at their ice queen.

"This is all part of an ongoing... quest you could say, for the past couple years." Keaton replied. "We're all working to eliminate the Templar presence in town, as well as all the major threats that are facing this whole town."

"One threat being this sorceress that Asgeir thought I was? I thought you people weren't vigilantes."

Elsa was smart enough to figure out what I was talking about, but she wasn't getting the whole picture. She could have thought I was talking about someone else, and I never mentioned Ingrid by name in front of her, so I count myself damn lucky I did. Her desperate want of someone with powers like her made her blind to see Ingrid for what it really was, and I doubted she would be so keen to agree with me to shoot first again. She never agreed with my killing, no matter what my intentions. S he could not know about Ingrid just yet.

"Yeah." I said. "An evil magic user. Name of Cora." She was the first name that came into my mind, thinking about my grandfather Norik as I did so. She was the most ruthless Templar in the history of the Land of Magic second only to Shay Cormac after he arrived in Arendelle. At least, that's what the books would tell you. "She's smart. And formidable. We're still trying to track her down since she went underground, but we'll find her."

"Spare me all the details." She said. "But as long as finding Anna is high on the priority list, you have as much support as I can give to you."

Zar chuckled. "No offense, Your Majesty, but there's not really much you can give us for support. This isn't Arendelle."

She glanced at him. "And you are?"

"Salazar Cortez. Though everyone knows me as Zar. I spent a lot of my time working away from Arendelle while Asgeir and Matthew restored the branch's foundations, so we never got the chance to meet."

I knew a lot of what the Assassins listening in were wondering: how was it that both Anna and Elsa were still alive after all this time? Even I was more amazed at that than ever. Time to start asking my questions.

"Elsa, what's happened in the last two days? Was that snow monster you summoned you as well?"

"I told you, Asgeir. You called me a freak while I was trying to hide. I was scared. I conjured it up because I was afraid of what was happening and where Anna was. I remember emerging out of some kind of magical urn in a barn outside of town, walking in through the main road, and the next thing, one of those magical carriages nearly hit me."

"That must have been what Grumpy and Sleepy saw of you the other night. They nearly ran her over with their truck." Jason said. "And the urn?"

"I destroyed it." She said. "I don't know why I was in it, or what happened before it. All I remember is seeing the ship with you and Anna on it sailing away with Kristoff beside me, and then waking up in the barn."

She destroyed the urn. Damn it. Could have used that on Ingrid, but I guess we couldn't win them all. After all, why use the urn when a bullet or a blade would do just as well?

"Asgeir?"

I looked up. Red had walked down into the tavern from her room. I suddenly grinned at the convenience.

"Who's she?" She asked.

"Uh. Heh… Red, this is my half-sister, Elsa. You know, the one I thought was dead and with the ice powers? Elsa, Red and I are very close friends. Met while we were on the run from the Templars."

Elsa smiled as she reached out a hand, which Red took, grinning. "It's nice to meet you, Red."  
"Asgeir's told me a few things about you, Elsa." She said, happily. "We've got a few things in common."

"Oh?"

A match made in heaven, with Elsa's difficulties with her ice magic, and Red's struggles with the wolf when she first learned she had it. "Why don't you and her connect over drinks? Kevan! I'll need an iced coffee for my sister over here!" I turned to her. "I don't think you ever tried icing it before, but I know you'll love it."

"You got it!" I heard him say.

"Assassins!" I called out to the whole pub. "This is my sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Show her the hospitality of the Assassins, and I might not just make your life a living hell for the rest of this operation."

"Aye!" Came a few calls as the whole bar raised their glasses, laughing. Elsa gave an awkward wave as she and Red took a few seats. As she smiled back at me, I felt it. It lasted for a few seconds, but then that feeling of hope was tarnished as I saw Shay sitting beside her at the table, grinning up at me.

"The game's not over, Asgeir."

I beckoned for the other Assassins, and Matthew, Keaton, Zar, Jason, and Rory followed. Marc and Willis stayed behind, taking seats close by to Elsa's table.

* * *

"This can't be a complete coincidence." Matthew said. "Swan and Hook must have brought that urn with them back from the past by some unforeseen miracle, and now Ingrid has what she wants back in her reach."

"I'm confused. Why did they even have the urn to begin with?" Rory said. "And how did it end up here in the present?"

"It must have been the Imp." I said. "He was working with Ingrid since the beginning. She wanted Elsa, and he wanted the hat that we had stolen from him. My best guess is Ingrid refused to give it to him, so he stole the urn. Locked Elsa up in the vault without realizing it was her in there. Or maybe he did. Makes no difference to me."

"And Elsa's memories getting stolen?" Jason asked.

"Also Ingrid. I'm sure of it." I said. "Elsa now knew what it really was, and it wanted to try again. The convenient reset button. Like it's that easy."

"So what happens now?" Keaton said to Matthew. "We keep pretending we're hunting a Templar who's already dead? Elsa's a smart girl. She'll soon figure out that the one we're hunting is the only other of her kind. And I know she won't be thrilled to hear we're lying to her about it. Matthew, we need to tread lightly. What do we do?"

"I'll leave that up to our potential future Mentor." He said, looking at me.

I stood up from my seat. The bulletin board in the corner had X's drawn over the photos of the last Primary Targets we had had in the past few years. Cora. Pan. Zelena. All with the strings trying it all in a spider web of connections.

"Elsa's always been the pacifist. Neither she, nor Anna would ever shed blood. That was always what I was meant for. I'd take the darkness of all three of us put together than let a shred of any of it touch both of them. If- no, _when_ she finds out that I'm going to kill the only other one capable of ice magic, she will try to stop to me. Appeal to my humanity. As if she still believes it's there. And maybe it is still there. I can't tell anymore because I had to bury it so deep it was brushing close to bedrock. But we don't let her stop us, none of us, from finishing what we started. Zar's right: this isn't Arendelle, and Elsa isn't queen here."

I took a spare pin out of the wall, and then the photo. Emma and Ingrid in the ice cream parlor. I pinned it up.

"I want at least one Assassin watching her at all times. No novices on this. I want a full-fledged Master with her at all times. Project Boden continues alongside hunting down Ingrid. I want no more shipments of drugs coming in, distracting us if it's even possible with the ice wall put up. Emma and David? They are the law in this town, but we can't rely on them to make the hard calls anymore. They will not kill Ingrid when I will. We are bound by no laws or morality as we never have been. We stop George from taking Storybrooke, we find Anna, and-" I drew out an old dagger with a reddish resin handlefrom my holster, and stabbed it into the photo, right through Ingrid's eye and through the bulletin board. "We find Ingrid so I can slice it's goddamn throat open."

* * *

I walked back into the pub not long after the meeting. Most of the troops had either gone to their rooms for what remained of the night. Elsa and Red were chatting happily in the corner, and I saw Marc and Willis were playing a board game close by. I sat down beside them

"Fellas." I said.

"Asgeir. Aw!" Marc cried. Willis had just rolled really well, and hit two of Marc's pieces that were so close to the end of the board. They were playing Backgammon. I knew how to play, but the pieces looked very confusing to.

"You're both playing white." I said.

"Yeah? Is there a problem with that?" Willis said.

"Well, how can you tell the difference between your pieces and his?"

"Believe me, Asgeir. We can tell the difference." Marc said.

I looked down at the board. I couldn't see any difference between the pieces, even when I tried focusing my Sight and looking hard enough. I couldn't tell the difference.

I swallowed as I looked up at Elsa, who hadn't noticed how grim I felt. She glanced over at me, and I put on my smile with a flick.

"Asgeir, why didn't you tell me about Red before? She's someone I know Anna would like as well."

"I didn't know her until after Arendelle-" I stopped myself. Was she ready to know what had happened yet?

"Asgeir?" Elsa looked worried. "What is it? What happened to Arendelle?"

I hadn't put a lot of thought into what I could say to Elsa that wouldn't make her any more suspicious of what had happened. I mean, when does anyone come back from the dead like that? I was hoping that Red would play along, and based on how she reacted to my story, she did.

"The magic using Templar, Cora was the one that sealed you in the urn, Elsa. It wasn't until Anna and I returned that she froze Arendelle completely with an ice spell after she had sealed you in the urn, wiped your memories, and captured Anna. I escaped, and that was the last I had seen of her. Apparently, the urn was a hidden artifact that was capable of sealing a magic user away, but she kept it close enough to her that Anna and I couldn't get close enough."

"She has Anna?" She looked more horrified with each second.

"We'll get her back, Elsa. I promise. This Cora, she might not have the same ice magic as you, but she is powerful in all kinds. And she was vicious enough to make things personal between me and her. Elsa… I thought I saw her kill you and Anna. And for so long, I spent every waking second doing everything I could to avenge your deaths." I never thought I would be saying all this, but here I was, telling Elsa that convenient lie every one of us tell. The lie that we tell all our loved ones and friends to make the darkness we fall into seem a lot more shallow than the endless pit it truly is. "Elsa… you have to understand that everything I did, I did because you and Anna were the last family I had left, and I loved you."

Elsa gave me a sad smile, putting a cool hand on my neck. "Asgeir, I know that. Anna knows it too. And I have no doubt in my mind that we will find her if you keep the hope alive. But I don't want you to lose your way doing it. You taught us that Assassins only shed blood because it's what they have to do. What's that irony that they say? 'We preach peace but must achieve it through violence.'"

I could barely speak. Elsa remembered what the Creed truly stood for, while I had forgotten everything it had meant in so long. But then again, she didn't go through what I had. Even if Elsa and Anna were still alive, it didn't change that I saw other Assassins get cut down brutally and horrifically in front of me at the hands of the most vicious Templars. I hadn't lost my way. The Creed was only getting in my way, and I needed to take a new path if I were to stand any chance of killing every last piece of filth that had crossed me. One was already dead by another's hands, one was in town waiting for the arms shipments that would hopefully never come because of what surrounded the town now, and one was now our main focus as the oncoming storm would begin. But another one had convinced everyone that he had turned over a new leaf, and now I had a way of making sure that he would stay out of my way. All I needed to do was make the ultimatum.

I smiled at Elsa as I stood up. "I'll have Kevan set you and Red up together. We have every Assassin in town staying here, but I'm sure there's enough room for you as well. But I think I'm gonna call it for the night. Kevan!"

"Aye!" He said from the table. "There should be a two bed a few doors down from yours, Asgeir. It's all theirs!"

"Thank you, Asgeir." Elsa said.

"Thank me later, sister." I replied. "Get some rest, and we'll start looking for Anna tomorrow."

As I headed out of the pub and into the hallway leading into the inn, Zar came out of the conference room.

"Asgeir, I just thought of something."

"Can it wait until tomorrow?"

"Not this." He replied. "I just thought of something. If Elsa and Anna are both still alive, what if they aren't the only ones?"

Alone. As in Ingrid didn't kill a single one of the people I thought she did without confirming it. "You think Troy and Rabbit are still alive as well?"

Zar nodded. "Ingrid may not have had a use for them, but if she didn't kill Anna even though she hated her, then who's to say she killed the Broken Chain Brothers?"

I shook my head. The possibility of Troy and Rabbit both being alive gave me some hope, but I wasn't paying much attention to that, since I barely cared for it anymore. Hope. What was that anymore? Was that what I felt when Elsa smiled at me as she always did? It was just a weakness now.

` "Even if that what you're saying could be true Zar, it doesn't change anything. Ingrid is still as dangerous as can be, and make no mistake about it, because this only ends one way: with my hands right around it's fucking throat and my blade going through it."

I started walking away, but Zar stepped in front. "Your sister is back from the dead. Another is confirmed to still be alive. I bring you news that both Troy and Rabbit are still alive, and all you can focus on is Ingrid and killing her? What's happened to you, Asgeir?"

I glared at my friend. "What happened was I had too much taken from me at the hands of people just as bad as Ingrid. They're all dead now, but I'm not finished here. Then when that ice freak is gone, I'll rest. For good."

I stalked past Zar into the inn, leaving him wordless.

* * *

The next morning, I became as certain as ever that the lockdown had done it's job right. I woke up in the pub sitting right up against the front door. The whole place was mostly empty, but I assumed it was probably because of how most of the hands here had spent the whole day and night mobilizing all across Storybrooke to fight Ingrid. We could all use the rest.

I got up and looked down at the doorknob. It had been jerry rigged with the new lock mechanism put in place for the lockdown, as well as iron bars being bolted into the window frames. I was about to head out to make my first big move since our sights had moved to Ingrid, but not to the Snow Queen itself.

I tried the doorknob. Locked up. And very tightly, I might add.

"Reaper stepping out." I said through my two-way, hoping an excuse for a cigarette could get me out.

"Negative, Reaper." Came the reply. "You are not authorized to go outside without at least one more member of your team."

"Open the goddamn door!" I snarled, getting furiously impatient.

"Let him through, Harpy." Matthew replied through his own two-way. "Though think hard about what it is you're doing before you head out, Asgeir."

I had thought about it. Long and hard. And while none of the Assassins could truly see it, this was the most desperate of times, and that required the most drastic of measures. I needed to be sure the biggest thorn in my side outside of the Assassins would play nice.

The day was just as clear as the last. Spring was finally settling in, the snow melting right before we had defeated Zelena. I unzipped my hoodie as I walked down the small hill Cormac's was built on and down Main Street, feeling the breeze from the ocean behind me.

* * *

It was a very short walk from the pub to the shop. The bell clanged loudly above my head as I opened the door and walked inside. The old bastard stood at the counter with a loupe over his eye as he was examining several pieces of jewelry.

"You clearly seem to have mistaken last night as a message that you are welcome here, Assassin." He said calmly as he looked up. "I gave you what you wanted last night, so I would advise that you turn and walk right out of the door."

"Oh, but then we'd miss out on the business we have to discuss, Rumplestiltskin." I said. "I'm here to make a deal."

The Imp scoffed as he took the loupe off his eye and looked up from his work. "And what on earth makes you think I'd be interested in dealing with you? Or why you would even think of wanting to make a deal with me at all? After all, you seem to be the only one left in town that doesn't trust me."

It was true. Belle had married this shite, and no one seemed to see him for the monster he really was. But he couldn't hide his true intentions from me.

"Well, it's not really a deal I have in mind. It's an offer, really. One I know you'll agree to because you should know what kind of man I am now."

"And what, pray tell is that? The kind that just won't leave me in peace, even after your own blood comes back from the dead? Seems that's happening to a lot of Assassins these days. First Marian, and now Queen Elsa. How convenient for you all."

Marian. Glowing red at every moment I was seeing her. I wasn't planning on ever killing her, but then why was she showing up like that when my Sight was in focus? Something was wrong with her.

"No, no." I said. "I'm the kind that's perceptive enough to know that the Dagger you gave Belle was a fake. I mean, how else would you have killed Zelena? I know you, Rumplestiltskin. And I know that you're just as addicted to power as I am to afflicting pain. You'd never let anyone hold that Dagger aside from you. Not even the ones you pretend to love."

"Heh." He chuckled a little, though more frustrated than amused. "We had been over this, Swortssen. Zelena killed herself with what magic she had left. End of story."

"It was the end of _her_ story when you tried covering your tracks using magical Photoshop on that tape. But let's get past that. I suppose you know why I'm here. Here in Storybrooke."

"You came here to help the Assassins defeat Zelena. Good job, by the way. You want a medal? You won't find one here. Door's behind you." He pointed.

"Ingrid. My… aunt Ingrid, the Snow Queen. It's here in town, planning something. Something that will end with this town facing an endless winter as they tear each other at the seams." I swallowed the word that said of it's relation to me. Aunt.

Rumplestiltskin's eyes gleamed at me. "You can't be serious that she would dare come here. I am more powerful than she would ever dream, and I have leverage against her."

"No, Rumplestiltskin. You _had_ leverage with my sister as hostage. Because it wanted Elsa as it's family and for Elsa to kill Anna and I. Now you don't have her and the pieces are in it's favor unless I act first, and quickly." I replied. "I'm here to end Ingrid, and finally end my suffering at it's hands. But I have known all along that it wasn't alone when it tore my family apart by the seams. You helped it with all this."

"Nothing of the sort. I simply helped your mother and her husband try to find out what afflicted your sister, and then gave them the forgetting potion to erase you from their minds. That is all I dealt with when I encountered your family."

"But Matthew told me the whole story after you and I had our little duel with Anna in the mix. How you gave my mother and aunts the urn to seal Ingrid in, and the gloves that my sister now wears every time she gets upset. You are just as responsible for putting my family through all this madness as Ingrid is. Now that it is in town, I have everything I have in place set for my revenge. All that's left now is you."

"I do hope that this history lesson ends with a point to all this. If not, I recall telling you where the door is."

I ignored him, coming real close to the counter. I place both my hands on it, the heels of my palms pressing flat against the cool glass between a pair of ancient dangle earrings. "My deal, Rumplestiltskin, is this: You're going to do what you should be doing all along. You're going to place nice with me. And you're going to do it by living the life of an old man here in this world. Love your wife, enjoy what friends you still have here, live a normal life without the addiction of magic and power, and stay the hell out of my way as I take Ingrid apart."

"And in return, you will not tell Belle that the Dagger she has is a fake? Thank you, but I will pass on this deal. She knows better than to trust you after I tell her of all the offenses you have made towards the Order. Why should she believe that the Dagger is fake if you are the one to tell her? A raging psychopathic killer."

I laughed. "No. No, no, no. Making a threat like that will only set you off. Rattle your chain, and make you nothing more than a rabid dog ready to tear my throat out if someone were to simply unhook you from your lead. Make you all the more ready to strike back against me. No, I need you scared. More scared than ever. Scared to lose a lot more than your life at the hands of me. And it's easy when I'm dealing with a coward with plenty to lose. Let me be perfectly clear, Imp. I'm not an Assassin anymore. And I'm certainly not the brother that Elsa once had anymore. I now know that merciful is the last thing I can afford to be anymore. Mercy is what'll get in my way as I learned with Ingrid. Ingrid taught me plenty, but that doesn't change what I will do to her; I will burn her and all that she holds dear. You, however, have been little more than a thorn in my side when Zelena had you as her dog. You've got a new person yanking on your chain, as you claim, but I want to be absolutely sure that you will stay out of my way. I will kill Ingrid, Rumplestiltskin. And if you deal with her, get in my way, or do something that I don't like, then I will take everything away from you just as the Templars did to me. It becomes a hell of a lot more simpler, and I kill Belle."

It was a threat I would never make before I had my sisters taken from me. Before I had my friends taken from me in the last decade. A threat that I now knew was the only way to ensure the Imp would know I wasn't fucking around anymore. And now that I had one of them back from the dead, and another still alive but within the abomination's grasp, I needed to keep the drastic measures to protect them from Ingrid.

His hand shot out over the counter, and was suddenly wrapped hard around my throat. "You made that threat with my boy, but I will not let you do it again with my wife!" He snarled. "You wouldn't dare kill an innocent life, or you would cease to ever call yourself an Assassin."

I chuckled, hearing Shay practically howling and hooting with laughter behind me. "I just said I'm not one anymore. Are you certain I wouldn't dare kill your Beauty, Beast? I killed plenty of innocent people in the recent years. It was why I got sent to the Gates in the first place. But if you're so certain that I wouldn't kill your wife, then by all means, stand between me and Ingrid and try to stop me from taking it's head off. But are you brave enough to make that risk for your love's life? Or are you just as much of a coward as you ever have been?"

He let go of my neck, the perfect balance of horror and anger over his face. "You live up to your name now more than ever, Reaper. When does the spilling of blood ever end?"

"It ends when I see everyone who had made me suffer dies at my hands. Everyone, and then some."

"Then you're more lost than I ever was! Get out of my shop!"

I smirked, taking a low bow as I walked out. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, Rumplestiltskin."

"Get out!"

"I must remember to tell Belle what a nice husband she has. One that would do anything to protect her, including playing nice."

"GET OUT!"

"Nothing is True, Imp. And Everything is-"

He didn't let me finish, flinging a vase in my direction as I ducked out of the door, shoving it open as it smashed against the wall beside it and out into the cool air.

I took out my lighter and lit a cigarette. Taking a drag on it, I thought hard about the ultimatum I had just delivered. It was harsh punishment I was threatening the Imp with, but would I deliver on it if he really did support Ingrid? I wouldn't want him to die yet until I took everything he cared about from him. When he truly knew my pain. When he finally knew my pain.

"Well done, Asgeir." Shay said, laughing beside me. "You're becoming more and more Templar with every passing second. Threatening an innocent life to further yourself against the third worst person you ever faced? You're even worse than I was. You know, this obsession with vengeance brings up that old saying: On the path for revenge, remember to dig two graves."

"Right." I muttered. "One for Ingrid's top half, and the other for-"

I stopped. I lost my train of thought and focus as I looked across the street. Through a window. A store's window. Of an ice cream parlor.

There it was. Ingrid. Leaning against the freezer in the parlor, smiling to herself as ice gathered on the wall around it. It glanced out the window of it's store, right at me. The cigarette in my teeth suddenly fell to the ground, still burning up.

"Aha! There is that vicious c***!" Shay sneered. "This is the first we've seen of her in ages! Amazing!"

I felt a chill in my heart as it did the equivalent of a big middle finger right to me: it gave a small wave to me.

I only glared back, my fists clenching up hard. My revolver was in reach. With a Bullet loaded into the chamber. But I wouldn't do it. Because a gun would be too quick. I wanted to savor it all. The begging and the crying for mercy as it would be there, on it's knees in front of me, begging for mercy while soaked in it's own blood. No mercy. Anymore. That was all that mattered anymore. Elsa would try her best to see the good in me and do what Anna would have to her, but there was the difference between us: they both still had goodness in them. Mine was long since dead. And all because of that fucking monster. It had Anna. And with her still alive, it meant more than likely that Troy, Rabbit, and Kristoff were alive as well. That meant that I had something more than revenge to fight that freak, but it also meant that I had a lot more left to lose than I expected. But I was ready. Was Ingrid?

* * *

**A/N: Okay, before anyone makes any reviews yet, I have two points I want to make about this chapter, hoping you might understand better by the time you finish reading. Firstly, if you were waiting very eagerly for this chapter, I apologize for this taking longer than I had wanted. I wanted to hit all the right nerves and get everything as best as I could for the reunion with Asgeir and Elsa. Though that being said, here comes my next point. If at any point from this chapter, and onwards, you are feeling like Asgeir is a character that you cannot root for anymore, then perfect. Because that is exactly what I am aiming for. I mean, here we see a guy who finds out his family is back from the dead, and all he cares about is killing Ingrid. But at the same time, Asgeir will learn what the Creed has meant to his brothers, and how he can atone for his crimes and become the Assassin he needs to be. Arno was one Assassin who was cut from the Assassins for fucking up multiple times, but Asgeir did something a lot worse when he faced off against the Templars right before he was sent to the Gates. I at least hoped you liked this reunion chapter, and the return of Elsa. Now comes the real story I was eager to tell. The part where the fic goes down into the dark pit that Asgeir fell down in his exile. Where everything twists, turns and shatters…**


	33. Chapter 33: Past- Brook Horse

**A/N: Four months is a long time between chapters, but I believe that I at least have a good reason. After I posted the latest chapter, I had the most inconveniently timed case of Writer's Block. It wasn't that I didn't know what would happen exactly, or that I had lost motivation. It had partly to do with the fact that I was taking new classes since January that made me exhausted every day, and I had no idea what to write for the path from point A to B with the new Shay chapter here. Then after about a week, things got insanely busy for me at both work and classes, and I barely had time to even sit down and watch Game of Thrones (fucking incredible season!), and play Uncharted 4 (HOLY FUCKING SHIT WAS THAT INTENSELY THE BEST GAME I HAVE PLAYED IN THE LAST YEAR!). But then soon afterwards, I made a big decision that I don't regret making, but still feel a bit bad doing.**

**I've quit watching Once. It was a decision I hadn't made overnight. The first half of season 5 just pissed me off, and I felt the acting had gotten more wooden and forced, and the writers have no idea what they were doing. And while I love that they got Merida in the show with the right actress and accent, her wig was shit, and her involvement was clearly not thought out well enough. She will appear in Faith later, but I am making a few changes to her character to get her to where I thought she would be right. But when I heard what happened in the Once finale with this Evil Queen clone being the villain next season, it was the last straw for me. Ever since How I Met Your Mother ended horribly after I had to endure 3 whole seasons of angsty and whiny bs, it's made me a lot more sensitive to recognizing bad tv when I see it. **

**That in mind, it doesn't mean I won't be finishing Faith. Unlike my other fic, which I am still working on, I have a solid end in mind for the whole thing, which I hope is bittersweet, yet satisfactory for what I thought was a bit of a rushed ending to the Frozen arc. **

**Luckily we have just gotten past what I think is the worst piece of Writer's Block for this, and I have big plans coming up. For now, I hope you at least enjoy a chapter that took me a lot longer than I would have wanted it to. And next chapters will be skipping 2 episodes. I am skipping "The Apprentice" because it doesn't really move the modern day arc forwards where it matters here, and "Breaking Glass" will be skipped because… well, you'll just have to wait and see. Cheers!**

* * *

Chapter 33: Past- Brook Horse

_January 1__st __2012 12:10 AM_

The path through the forest led down a small slope from the tree the Huldra had just ejected me out of, and down towards a river. Still shaken and horrified by what I had just seen, the images and memories rattling through my mind, I slumped down the hill through the snow, my toes no longer having any feeling to them.

Was this all a penance for what I had done to land me here? I did it because people I loved were taken away from me, and I needed to make the others feel the same pain that I had from them. It was all justice. It was all to rebalance the scales. They had been thrown out of balance for 30 years. And where did it all start? With Abstergo? …no. It started with the freak.

I felt so exhausted from the overload of memories I had seen that I fell down into the snow, rolling down the hill and to the riverbank. It was a fairly narrow one, but it also looked very deep and not at all safe to cross, even with it partly well-frozen over from either side.

As I lay in the snow, face caked in it, freezing half to death, I heard the water rippling. Something was beginning to rise out of it, and I knew what it was. I started backing away in fear and fell on my arse as the figure rose from the water.

Likely believed by most in Ancient Norse folklore, the Backahasten was a creature known to take children that played too close to raging rivers for rides on it's back before diving down and taking them with him, drowning them. Though it was also commonly known as the Brook Horse to people who still study the legends to this day. There was even a legend of a man who took a stone from a river that looked like a small drowned baby, a Myling, from the Brook Horse. What haunting images he saw, he told his friends at the pub that very night, and although they all laughed at him, calling him a drunk and a fool, he was found the next morning in his home, his lungs filled with water, and the stone he had found gone.

Every Watcher was to be even worse than the last, and already it was becoming quite apparent to be the truth. The Brook Horse was going to drown me, no doubt. If he could. But this was not how I was going to die. I got up, stumbling and turned around.

"I will not!" I cried out, running up the hill.

It was no use. A loud rattling sound suddenly came out from the hilltop, and a dark shape came rolling for me. It slammed right into me, and I flew through the air and into the river. Some wagon? Where did that come from?!

The current was strong and violent. Much quicker moving than it looked from the shoreline. Then I saw it's white mane and long face.

I spat cold river water out of my mouth, coughing. "I refuse to die at your hands! You have nothing to show me that I would benefit from- blugh!"

It was pulling me downwards. I thrashed my hands, more freezing water flying up and landing into my eyes, blinding me. I couldn't see in any direction as I struggled harder and harder to get out, but it was no good. Even when I tried reaching up again, I realized I was in too deep when I couldn't feel the surface anymore, and yet I could still feel the Brook Horse pulling me downwards into the water. And then, it began to feel less cold. And the water itself was starting to feel more like air again. I suddenly knew what I was about to see. More of what I didn't want to.

* * *

_February 1783- Five years later…_

The tide was already in our favor when I arrived in Arendelle. I found it to be a strange land, but not all that different from our own. A land with some forms of magic here, but much more grounded than Master Kenway had led us to believe. Keiran Roscoe, the Templar who became a guide for Gist and myself, quickly became another trusted friend. He was closer to my age when I had first joined the Templars, and had just the same initiative. In fact, many of the people he saw fit to join us had the same goals as he showed me profiles on each one he believed could be relied on and trusted. Truthfully, the King and Queen of Arendelle were not fit to join us when I first came to the land, let alone even rule this kingdom. Their councilmen were filled with weak men and women who saw their kingdom as a place where people were allowed to walk free and under no real guidance whatsoever. Chaos was only as far away as a walk to the nearby tavern. People were allowed to be able to do too much, and not even us, the Templar Order of Arendelle could be able to put ourselves into places of influence yet. Most of us were captains of our own ships, (Arendelle was very reliant on it's ships and trading over the winds being on the open water) a few lords and dukes, and there were even a few ladies who joined us, knowing that their own motives of influence towards their spouses would be enough. Yet, there was one person I met early in my time here that refused point blank to join us, and every year I found myself coming face to face with him to make the request again. Baron Gustav Vollan repeatedly, and quite assertively refused my offers to join the Templars the last few years, ignoring the potential that came from joining us. Every year, myself and Roscoe came to his small settlement to the Northeast of Arendelle's main town. And every year he showed his courtesies to us. He gave us shelter and food, but he still held firm to his decision.

"Everyone in this kingdom has the right to choose for themselves. If my King and Queen make the decision to let their citizens believe what they want and do as they please, then I will respect that decision." He said, every year. A tone of kindness the first time we came, but more annoyance came into it with each of the coming years.

It would be at this point that I would normally give up. But Roscoe pointed out that the Baron controlled nearly a whole third of Arendelle's army. The biggest share any lord in the kingdom held.

On our ride back to his manor on the third year, I suggested something that taught me something new.

"Why don't we just kill the Baron?" I said, finding this to be a waste of time at this point.

"We can't do that, Master Shay." He replied, eyeing me with surprise at the suggestion. "Do you know how our laws in the eyes of both gods and men are? There is a reason that the Baron serves us food and drink every time we come. Do they revel in other gods in the Land Without Magic?"

"I was raised Irish Catholic." I replied. "So that would be a no, as I worshipped a God, singular."

"Well then, I would then assume that your God might not enforce the Guest Right as harshly as we do here in Arendelle. The Baron serves us food and drink because he knows that if he does, then he is protected by the Guest Right; neither of us can kill him, nor can any of his own kill us. We are guests under his roof and he is our host."

"So he is protected so long as we do not eat his food?" I asked, thinking that would serve as a reasonable loophole.

Roscoe shook his head. "Afraid not, sir." He replied. "It would be rude and suspicious. Baron Vollan would suspect something would be amiss and then we would run the risk of provoking his own wrath. Despite both our skills with the blade, and our dedication to the Templars, I doubt either of us would last long against them."

So things went on as usual for a while. I gathered new followers over time. Commoners and nobles alike, though I did find myself with a small inner circle. At the end I found myself not as surrounded by as many friends as I would have wanted. Gist and Roscoe, they were the closest I had to anything of a friend. But all the rest in our fast growing rite were more like followers.

By the end of the fourth year, our rite had nearly fifty members spread out over Arendelle. Yet, we still could not approach the King and Queen, because it would be too direct than Haytham would have allowed. Roscoe and Gist agreed what would happen: We would wait for the next King and Queen to come into power, and coerce them when we had the chance. Hell, if I made enough of our luck, we could install one of our own into the throne beside the Prince. It was a nice thought, but one that we needed to wait for. Right now, it was all about gathering what followers we needed.

That was the plan. And today was that day once more. Roscoe and I were heading for Baron Vollan's keep within the fortnight. Myself and our higher ranking Templars all gathered the night before Keiran and I were to leave and gave their thoughts on this.

"Grand Master, this doesn't need to happen."

"Vollan has said no four times already, he can say it again a fifth."

"We don't need filth that refuses to open their eyes to the real world."

"We are powerful enough even with him."

"Enough." I said.

The table silenced as I stood up from my seat.

"Gustav Vollan is one of King Niklas' most trusted generals, and controller of the biggest slice of Arendelle's army. We will not be able to take the kingdom under our control until Niklas and his wife pass on, but we can at least get close enough to them. As long as we have the right people in our pockets. And no one will get us closer to the next rulers of Arendelle better than Vollan. That is why we have to persist at this until he says yes."

"Sir, he still holds true to the guest right. He knows how to protect himself from us enough times."

They were right, but I had to keep trying at it. Master Haytham would have most likely killed Vollan by this time, but I wanted to try something else. Show my followers that we could be better than the Assassins by using non-lethal means of achieving what we sought. Yet, I felt like my last resort was just around the corner.

"Master Roscoe and I will be headin' for the Baron's keep tomorrow. When we return, I know we will have his army under our thumb, and all of Arendelle will be under our guidance. Please at least be confident that we can do this, my brothers."

Roscoe stood up. "Master Cormac has brought us this far, lads." He said. "And while some of us may not think that we can get Baron Vollan into our cause, our Grand Master has a way with words. We will get to him eventually."

"Here, here." Gist put in.

"We can't give up any time soon, gentlemen." Roscoe continued. "If we do, then who's to say Vollan is the one brick we need that might make this whole structure that we are creating come crashing down all around us?"

There were murmurs of agreement as I continued.

"Some of you may be even concerned that if Roscoe and I leave tomorrow, we might not come back. And I can understand that. But if Vollan holds the guest right as I have to as well, then we will be safe. So stay strong my friends. May the Father of Understandin' guide us."

"May the Father of Understanding guide us."

* * *

Roscoe and I were soon at the gates, where a guard on the wall looked down at us.

"We are Masters Shay Patrick Cormac and Keiran Roscoe. Here to speak with the Baron."I called up to the wall.

I could see the guard disdainfully look down at us from the wall, not hiding how annoyed he was getting by our annual visits to the keep. Nevertheless, the gate came risin up, opening the way for Roscoe and I to make our way into the small village and courtyard before the keep with our horses. We trotted through the village, most of the villagers looking up at us without words or even feelings to us from the looks we got. We were neither liked nor hated by the smallfolk, but it was becoming apparent by the looks that they recognized us and how we had come to this place near to this very time, every year. The flashes of familiarity on their faces was clear as a calm day on the seas, yet that was all we saw on their faces. I half expected them all to boo and hiss at us as we continued through the village, but to us, we didn't matter that much. They just went on with their lives as they did. But today Roscoe and I couldn't allow the Baron to do the same after today.

The keep was a modest one compared to the King and Queen's castle on the water. It lay on a small hilltop at the very back of the walled off portion of the land. A slanted roof of logs, and cobblestone walls made up most of it to look more like a nicer, large cabin instead of a small keep. Two guards with spears stood flanking either side of the entrance, but standing there between them to greet us was not the Baron, but rather his son.

The lad was small, but quick looking. Short sandy hair and a freckled nose. I had seen him around when we had come before, but he seemed to be more of a listener, not a talker from what little I had seen of him. I had never really spoken to him.

"Sir Linus." I nodded to him as Roscoe and I jumped off our mounts.

"Master Cormac." He bowed his head in return. "My father was expecting you for today."

"Has been happenin' every year, lad. The same day, every year." I replied. "In the end, it is what will need to happen for Arendelle to survive."

Linus looked grim. "My father told me he's prepared to have you both leave dissatisfied yet again. Quite forcibly, if it may come to that."

"Then may it not need to." I said. "Master Roscoe, shall we?"

"Yessir."

* * *

We knew well enough the layout of Vollan's keep from our repeated visits, but nevertheless we were guided to the parlor where we found Gustav. An older man with a red beard and long hair tied up behind his head in a bun, he sat beside the fire with two other guards, each on either side of him. His wife, Illeena had passed away two years before I came here. From what I had heard from Roscoe, he might have said yes to joining us if his wife hadn't died of the sickness. He was never the same after that. Hell, it seemed the whole town seemed to suffer from the loss of the Baroness.

"Masters Cormac and Roscoe." He gruffly said to us, not bothering to stand up. He held up a hand, and a servant practically ran with a platter of refreshments right to us. Not even bothering to wait with it.

I had accepted the food and drink right away as a respectful guest for the first few times, but that was because the Baron had at least waited with us, serving us refreshments mere hours after we arrived. This time he wasn't wasting any time at all, going right to it. And it just rubbed me the wrong way.

"No, My Lord." I replied, perhaps a little more rudely than I had intended. "I don't think so."

The Baron raised an eyebrow as another servant started getting us chairs. He froze when he saw the look on his master's face, and stopped as Linus walked up and stood behind his father in front of the hearth.

"No?" He said in surprise. "And why is that?"

"Because it's clear to us that you neither want us nor even like us here, My Lord. Yet, we will not stop askin' you as we ask every year. I won't let you hide behind your precious Guest Right as an excuse."

Roscoe put an arm between me and the Baron as he stepped forward. "What our _bold_, yet honorable Grand Master Cormac wants to say is that we simply cannot take no for an answer, My Lord." He said, quickly trying to ease the tension. "King Niklas is weak, as curt as it may sound. Yet we must be frank. His kingdom does not belong in the hands of clueless men and women, as well as him if they abuse their right to this land. The people of this land need the guidance that we offer. That _he_ offers." He pointed to me. "And for you to stubbornly hold onto the thought that people can still roam free throughout the land if they use that privilege in the worst kinds of ways, it makes the better men like us start to question your capabilities as a ruler."

The Baron glared at Roscoe. "I have given you my answer four times already, Roscoe. I think I have been a gracious host the four times that you both have invited yourselves into my keep and take my bread and wine. I have been as gracious as I can, so I think that you can at least return the courtesies and respect my wishes."

It was that "take my bread and wine" that pushed me too far. "'Take your bread and wine'?! 'Take it'?! You practically force it into our mouths just so yah can feel safe that we will not kill you beneath this roof!"

Linus quivered as his father leapt up from his seat, Gustav's hand already on the sword at his belt. "AYE!" He snarled. "Because we have laws of both gods and men here, Cormac! And we are all expected to follow those laws, otherwise they will se us burn for it. Most of us are as free as we want, but the gods at least give some semblance of order here. And we must respect how they see we handle this way of life that we follow. And only if the gods themselves told me right in flesh and bone that I am to follow a cause which I believe to come straight out of the deepest seventh hell, then I will." He gradually lowered his voice and then sat back down. "This land is meant for the people. If they wish to live their lives as they see fit, then I will respect that. I was taught that by my father, and it is the same philosophy I have taught my own son here. Linus, if you will?"

He beckoned for his son to come forth to him, flashing him a kindly smile.

"You understand this, right?" He said to him. "We cannot allow corruption to touch Arendelle. It is our duty."

Linus gave a solemn nod. "Yes, Father. It is."

The Baron nodded, and started turning to me when he flinched.

Linus slammed a fist right up against his father's temple, blood gushing out between his fingers, which were clenched so hard, I was sure he may have broken a few of them. The Baron's eyes rolled up into his head as he slumped down onto the ground in front of his chair, blood flowing out onto the floor. The guards beside the chair only looked down at Gustav, not even batting an eye.

"Corruption won't touch Arendelle again, Father." He sneered down at him. "I won't make the same mistakes that you did."

Linus looked up at me as Roscoe and I stood there in shock. I was at a loss for words as he said the words.

"The Father of Understanding guides me, Master Cormac." He said as the servants knelt down and began carrying the Baron's body away. "The time for weakness and a king that allows his subjects to run free without real governing is over. I am yours to command."

I gulped, giving a silent prayer to my own God. The killing of one's host was frowned upon so heavily in this society, but how would kinslaying look as well?

Roscoe cleared his throat, clearly just as shaken at what had happened. "You pardon Grand Master Cormac, My- *ahem* Lord." He said, giving an awkward cough. "Neither of us were quite expecting this kind of a stay here."

"You may have refused to have eaten his food, but you still would have been seen as a guest here. I was not one, and the rest of the household saw what I have seen. One era is over, yet my poor father pathetically clung to it like it was all he had left in the world. He barely spoke to me these last seven years, even when I needed him. I mourned for my mother as well, but he decided to spend his days licking his wounds and wallowing in his own sorrows instead of trying to help his people. Even like that pathetic King who's daughter died that we speak of in our legends. So when I heard that there was an opportunity with the Templars, I listened to what I could with his meetings with you, short as they were. And I am forced to conclude that you are right with all of this, Master Cormac. This land needs our guidance. I see it, you and Roscoe see it, and I now know that our own household was willing to betray my father to see the light as well. So I will join you, since my father would not. I may not know much about the Templars, but I know enough to know that they are who I belong with."

Without many words to express what I thought, I only did the first thing that came to mind: I pulled out the ring that was meant for Gustav, and I handed it to Linus. Then he stood in front of us.

"Do yah swear to uphold the principles of our Order, and all for which we stand?"

"I will." Linus said.

"And to never share our secrets, nor divulge the true nature of our work?"

"I will."

"And to do so from now until death, whatever the cost?"

"I will."

I placed my hand on Linus' shoulder. "We welcome you into our fold then, brother. Together, we will usher in the dawn of a new world. You are now a Templar, Baron Linus Vollan. Harbinger of a New World."

"May the Father of Understanding guide us." Roscoe and I recited.

"May the Father of Understanding guide us." Linus echoed.

* * *

The Baron of Vollan was the last nail in the coffin for us. It was five years since I had arrived in Arendelle, and now it would be mere months, if not years for the kingdom to finally be within our grasp and guidance. We had all of it's army backing us now, and soon enough we would wait for Niklas' heir to come into the throne, and listen to people who knew what they were doing. This would all be over soon. Soon enough at last.

* * *

Months later, Gist and I were going over a number of maps in the cabin of the _Morrigan_. She had barely spent time enough out on the waves since we had landed in Arendelle, but with all the world only out there for us to explore and discover, and our mission in Arendelle nearly complete, I saw fit to at least see more of this world and better understand it. There was a knock at the door of the cabin.

"Enter." I said, kindly.

The Baron Linus came in, but I could see the shadow of someone waiting behind him just outside.

"Greeting, Captain." He said.

"My Lord." I gestured to the chair across from me, beside Gist. Linus sat down beside him.

"Planning an expedition somewhere, Captain?"

"Aye." I said. "This land seemed to stand out for me when Roscoe was showing me the lands surroundin' Arendelle. A three day's sailing South-East takes one here." I tapped my finger on the land in the far side of the map. "Misthaven. What lands this world has! We've only scratched the surface of this realm!"

Linus was now fully aware of where Gist and I came from, and only shrugged. "I myself never have been outside of Arendelle, and I doubt I really will by the end of my life."

"I for one see great potential in travelling from this kingdom to another. There are no Assassins here in this land, and we have all the time in the world to establish the greatest Templar structure ever made. Why keep it here in Arendelle?"

"Exactly my thoughts, Mr. Gist." I replied, looking back down at the map, tracing an imaginary course we might take. "Which is why I am already makin' the preparations needed for us. It may still be a while before the next King and Queen will be brought into the fold, so we should spread out more while we wait."

Linus' shined a bit with excitement. "I may not ever be able to leave Arendelle with my duties as Baron, but my cousin might be open to joining this journey."

I looked up from the map. "Is he the one outside?"

"Yes, Captain. But _she_ is not just here for the journey. She was interested in meeting you, see."

The door opened slowly as a finely dressed woman in black and purple came inside. She had dark eyes and hair tied back in a braid, and there was a certain aura that was surrounding her. She almost seemed to glide forwards as she stood behind Linus, Gist looking up in awe. No shock there. Beautiful women always seemed to get him out of focus.

"My cousin, Lady Jannika, Master Cormac. She's shown interest in joining the Templars since my own induction."

"Indeed, Master Cormac." She said. Unlike Linus, she had a small accent. Almost a trill to the rs, and barely pronouncing the last c in my name. "I think I have had enough time spent here in Arendelle, and from what I have heard from Linus in your inner circle of trusted Templars, you are in need of a diplomat. Someone who can speak political to the nobles of Misthaven."

I didn't speak or move. I saw no one but Templars in front of me, even with the lady, but I had no reason to show her my feeling. Something told me I didn't want to show her my hand at any time. Ally or spy.

Gist gave me a look. "We're fighters, Captain. We have nobles in the branch here, but I don't think any of them can speak politics. I don't even know it from godforsaken Latin."

Gist was either telling the truth, or was more likely thinking of how fast it would take him to get Jannika out of that skirt. But she was a viper of some kind. Maybe exactly what we might need.

"Welcome aboard… My Lady."

* * *

_January 1__st __2012 12:15 AM_

I suddenly felt like I was trying to breathe ice water, and then all the light in the cabin went out and I was surrounded by water in every direction. I thrashed upwards and gasped as I burst out of the water. I was right beside the shore, so as soon as I was able to get my bearings back again, I clawed for the snow on the riverbank.

He didn't just start the Templars in Arendelle. He likely used the help of that snake of a woman, Jannika. She looked like some kind of beautiful vampiress to me. All of this was coming together for me. Shay wasn't above murdering his own host to get the Templars into greater power, and even if it was the Baron's son who orchestrated it without giving Shay the heads up, he was just as responsible with him all willing to join the Templars when his father was the one in power at the time.

But why were the Watchers showing me all this to begin with? Was this to make me better understand the evil that I had fought to purge the world of, and how I ultimately was turned on by the very people I fought beside when I fought too hard for their liking? No that wasn't it. There was a point to all of this, and the only thing that did come to mind aside from this was what I would have to do after I got out of here, found Ingrid, and killed her. I would have to return to Arendelle and find Hans to finish the fight that I had started so many years ago.

Suddenly, I felt another shock of pain, and a whole new set of memories slammed into my head. All surrounding one image that I could not mistake.

Prince Hans. Kneeling in the snow. A firepit was beside him, but the blood coming out of the hole in his throat was gushing out so far and fast that it was dousing the flames. And there was the same figure I had seen in front of the burning inn. Black hood and furs, and the same expression I had worn for years. The black void of hopelessness.


	34. Chapter 34: Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 34: Smoke and Mirrors

**Jason POV**

* * *

The wall was still there. That was what Elsa told us when she returned to Cormac's later that morning. Asgeir was wordless when he heard the news, and he had barely spoken since. Not one word out of him. And it was the lack thereof that was scaring me; he almost always had a comment on every evil twat that crossed us.

After breakfast, Zar, Rory and I were down in the Bunker going over the Project Boden plans. Ruby and Ashley said they would go out for more recon that afternoon, while we discussed the plans of sabotaging the first lab, hopefully stopping the flow of drugs into the town. Despite all that we had heard, of the barrier around the town, it hadn't stopped George from bringing in the shipments of drugs in and out of Storybrooke. There was a boat that came in last night, and it likely had used a bean to get through the barrier. But in less than a day it seemed like the only ones who really remembered that this was still going on was the five of us involved. And Asgeir? He really was obsessed with killing Ingrid since he had made no effort to join us down here.

While Zar and Rory talked over their notes over how he was going to sneak to one of the labs that night, I looked over a map of every one that had appeared so far. I was supposed to decide which one would be the best to set the charges at that night, but I was more focused on how many there were. The whole town didn't see it, yet George had slunk off from his defeat against David and had managed to gather up enough thugs to run over a dozen labs. The Templars shipped him the materials the labs needed, he shipped them the product, and in return, they gave him the money to gather more supporters, the cycle beginning anew. How could we let them get this powerful in the shadows? But then I remembered why we were doing this: George was working towards taking his revenge on David, but he was more cautious than ever before with us and our massive arsenal of weapons underneath Cormac's. One sign that we were even aware of his activities, and he would disappear into the world outside Storybrooke for good. He had his way out through the Templars. He just needed an excuse to leave.

Matthew came stomping down the stairs along with a blonde right behind him, both of them holding coffee cups. She looked a little like Elsa, but she wore a black t-shirt with the Assassin insignia emblazoned on it over a long sleeved red shirt, and her golden hair hung loose over one shoulder.

"How goes the project, boys?" He said as the two of them walked up to the table.

"Nothing more than a pet project as you said, Matthew." Zar replied. "George still operated while Ingrid is starting her attacks on the town, and you look at this as though we're doing nothing more than running around like-"

"Eagles with their heads cut off?" The blonde said smugly.

Rory looked up from their notes. "Who's the lass, Matthew?"

"Boys, I'd like you to meet Sue, Marc's cousin. She's the only family he has and has been an outside friend of the Assassins for a while. Keaton knows her well. And based on the circumstances, Marc wanted her to come. He's now seeing how dire the situation is becoming."

"Marc never will let me join you guys, yet he pulls me in when some ice bitch is trapping the whole town behind a wall?" She shrugged. "I guess I need protecting."

Matthew grinned, slapping her on the back. Then he held up a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me.

"I'm sending you to this on behalf of us, Jason. This was shoved in our mail slot"

I unfolded the paper. Whoever made it clearly wanted to show as much as they humanly could that the meeting it was discussing was important. But while it mentioned this "fireside chat" Mary Margaret Blanchard was hosting, I was more focused on what was written across it in a permanent marker.

"P.S: 2 Assassins are asked to attend; one be Asgeir Swortssen. -DN"

"So David Nolan wants Asgeir there? Why?"

Matthew gave a curt shrug as he sat down, sipping on his coffee. "I have no idea, Jason. I mean, after nearly shooting our own Queen's head off, and everything that's happened since he's got here, I have no idea what would provoke the citizens around here to want someone outside us to be keeping a better eye on him."

"What's the guy's deal anyways?" Sue said. "He only stared at me when I said hello to him before we came down here. He seems off his rocker, if you ask me."

"This Ingrid that we're looking for, Asgeir has a history with. A long one. And as far as we know, standing in his way could be a death sentence."

"Then why are we even letting him walk loose, knowing full well how unstable he could be?"

"He wouldn't dare go that far." Matthew replied. "At least not as far as I know. His sister has come back from the dead, and Princess Anna could very well be in Ingrid's hands as well, so if he does something completely stupid, then the two people he really cares for will see him as what he denies himself to have turned into."

I could see that Matthew was confident in what was to come, but I felt the dread sinking in. It would be his biggest mistake ever to think he would know what Asgeir would do next. And whatever skeletons in the closet they both were hiding from the Order were going to cause fractures among us. Or fatalities.

Matthew turned to me. "I want you to take Asgeir with you to the meeting later today. Just go there, and show the citizens that we are trying to mend the wounds between them and us. Then maybe we might stand a chance against Ingrid if all hell breaks loose."

"Aye, Mentor." I replied, heading for the door. The rest of us got back to work as I started up the stairs. Rory and Zar continued with their plans for the lab, and Sue and Matthew headed into his office to the side, closing the door behind them.

* * *

Asgeir sat back in his chair uncomfortably beside me as I looked around. We were clearly out of place here, with all the typical citizens of Storybrooke gathered for this "fireside chat", and us here. Rarely did we ever leave Cormac's to attend these meetings, because we had been considered a criminal front back then, but as I had said to Asgeir, we were sent here to mend the bridges, not burn them even further. And it was no wonder that David had included a small note asking Asgeir to attend as I saw the Shepherd eye us. His behavior in the past two days had gone unbelievably out of control. He had barely spoken this morning, except with his sister, and then he pretended like I hadn't notice when I came up to them, still trying to keep up the charade of the brother that she should have known was long dead. But Elsa wasn't stupid: She would find out soon enough, when Ingrid would begin tightening her grip even harder on the town. She would see that the insane snarling Assassin that had once been her brother really had been inches away from shooting her, and that he was a shell of what he had been. But when it happened, she would start asking the questions that close to none of us had, and the two that did have them keeping their mouths shut. I had no idea what had happened to Asgeir to make him so erratic and hellbent on killing the Snow Queen. Was it the curse that he was inflicted by that influenced him? Or maybe something had happened to him that broke him even more than Ingrid did. He had been imprisoned in the Gates with his hood stripped. But why?

The Mayor's office was getting quite full, and soon Mary Margaret came out with her baby. I felt almost bad for her. I heard she barely got any sleep from the blackout, and it was because of the citizens with their first world problems and complaints to her, and not the baby.

"Hi everyone." She said out loud, getting the room's attention. "And welcome to the very first Mayor's Fireside Chat. For too long, this office was a place to be feared. Well, I want every citizen to feel welcome and included here. So if you could just refer to the meeting agenda I've printed…" She held one up. "There are-"

"Uh, what's this about an ice wall?"

I looked up. Archie looked at Snow in concern as the rest of the room nodded, murmuring in agreement. Not even a minute in and I could feel things were heading off the deep end. Asgeir could feel it too; he tensed up at the mention of it.

"Oh that's uh, Item Four. We'll get to that in a minute." Mary Margaret said, trying to get back on track.

It didn't work. "I vote we skip Items One, Two, and Three!" Leroy snapped. "Show of hands."

The whole room except Asgeir and me did so. The ice wall was our problem, not the town's. Ingrid was our problem, and not theirs. I could at least trust in what Mary Margaret was trying to do, but it was clear no one else agreed. We were here to play peacemakers.

Mary Margaret stuttered, trying to catch the curveball she was just thrown. "Yeah that's- uh. Oh, fine. No, I can- I can be flexible. The ice wall… is nothing to worry about." She paused for the reveal of bad news on top of that other bad news. "For the time being it does surround the entire town."

They took it as well as I expected it to. They even woke the baby, but no one even noticed or cared. Asgeir only sat there, his chin in his hand, almost as if he was forcing it to stay shut. He wanted to say something, but he was doing all he could to stop himself. Not a damn peep out of him.

"Oh, everyone calm down." Mary Margaret said. "The wall isn't hurting anyone."

"We've been through all this before." Leroy growled. "I ain't worried about the wall. I'm worried about who made it."

On cue, Mary Margaret held up her agenda. "Item Five: Her name is Elsa, she's a friend."

"She the one that froze my truck?"

"And made that snow monster that almost killed Marian?" Granny put in.

It was their tone that got Asgeir. He jumped up as Marian tried to disregard it all.

"Yes she is. And can you all blame her?" He sneered out. "None of you get it. No one! Even if you should. She's not from here. She didn't know about the modern conveniences like 'trucks' and other things. And if I'm not mistaken, I heard that the other dwarf Sleepy was at the wheel. Hah. Nice job making him your designated driver."

"Asgeir…" I got up and grabbed his hand but he ripped it out.

"She still froze my truck. And you defend her, Reaper?" Leroy said. "Are you Assassins hiding her in your pub along with your guns and all the other weapons we know you keep there? What about you, Milburn? Anything else to add?" He turned on me.

"We're not here to cause anymore bad blood, people." I said, trying to defuse the situation. "We are here because we were invited in the hopes that we can ease the tension."

Leroy bit his lip. "So does that mean you'll be letting this… 'Elsa' answer for what she did? Or are you going to keep defending her?"

Asgeir glared hard at Leroy. "Watch your tone, dwarf." He said. "Elsa is under my protection for good reason. Wouldn't you defend your own siblings too?"

David jumped up as the room went into an uproar, trying to calm everyone down as they yelled out at the both of us. Now they knew that their newest "problem" shared blood with the very Assassin that had caused the most problems for everyone ever since Arendelle fell. I grabbed Asgeir by the hand again and tried to get him to sit down, but he only shook it off as he yelled out rude comments to Leroy about 'stubborn dwarves' and the sort. It wasn't helping in the slightest. Not even my attempts to yell over Asgeir and get him to shut up weren't helping. But what did finally stop the ruckus was Robin and his wife.

"Marian? Marian! MARIAN!"

The whole room looked over at them as he caught her, falling to the ground. And in her ebony black hair, a streak of pure white was inlaid.

"Shit…" Asgeir murmured, forgetting that he had been yelling moments ago.

* * *

City Hall was cleared out within minutes as Assassins were called in and we had carried Marian out of there. This was getting out of hand faster than we even thought possible, and Asgeir didn't help with his yelling earlier. Leroy eyed him suspiciously as Marc and Willis put Marian into one of the vans and sent it off to Cormac's, but Asgeir gave him no notice. I remember how biased he had been against dwarves for a long time ever since he and Grumpy met in the Enchanted Forest. But I never found out why they hated each other.

David approached me as the van was loaded up with Marian and the Assassins and it drove off for the pub.

"I just don't see any benefit to taking Marian to the Assassins, Jason." He said. "When Zelena was in town, things were straightforward enough that we could find some ways to work together. Now with Asgeir's sister in town, and all of this happening with him and his antics. It doesn't seem to be helping anymore with you guys trying to keep it quiet."

I shook my head, gently moving my sprained wrist. Keaton had reminded me to keep moving it where I could to help it heal. "I know, David." I said. "And you're right: Asgeir was only making the situation worse with his yelling at the townsfolk. But the Assassins as a whole need to be the ones who take care of this situation. We ourselves know what we're doing. You need to trust me."

"Fine." He said. "But does Asgeir know what he's doing? More importantly, what's to happen if he takes things too far with what he thinks is protecting his family?"

"When that-" I stopped myself. Matthew was so sure that everything would be fine as long as he let Asgeir run free, but there was something that was coming soon with how badly he was taking this fight with Ingrid, and it was only 3 days in. And when things would truly boil over, it would reflect the worst on the Assassins as a whole, not just him. I at least hoped that Matthew had a plan for what could happen, because all that came to mind we couldn't do. If Asgeir got out of control, with him blowing up Zelena's house, and after everything he was charged with doing that landed him in the gates, the noose would be all that would be left for him. But even that wasn't possible.

David could see my conflict. "I'd like to at least speak with Matthew on this. The Assassins owe some explanation to the citizens for what's going on." He said, understanding.

"Aye." I waved to the other van that hadn't left yet. "We'll be seeing you at Cormac's!" I called.

* * *

Marian's unconscious body was brought into the pub and laid down on several tables close together. Elsa stood by in the corner, looking more worried than I had seen any one person as Snow and David came in with me. Matthew came up to greet them.

"Listen, thank you both for letting us take Marian. She'll be safer here than out there in town."

"Yeah, we saw the defenses." David said. "What is going on here?"

"This has to do with what's keeping up that damn ice wall, David." I said, deciding that there was enough secrets being kept under wraps.

Matthew gave me a hard look, then glanced back at Elsa. Then he beckoned towards the meeting room.

David looked at Snow, who held Neil closer to her. "Oh, um. Sure." She said, understanding what her husband was asking. "If there's anything they need me to help with Marian."

"Just keep your ear open. See what develops with her." He said.

David and I followed Matthew into the meeting room, where he closed and locked the door behind us.

"What is going on here?" He then demanded. "Sentry guns rigged outside the bar, and the whole door reinforced with a lock that could rival the one that kept our treasury shut? Start talking now."

"David, this is not a fight that anyone in Storybrooke is ready for. The one who's keeping up the wall that Elsa put up has a vendetta against the Assassins, so it is our fish to fry." Matthew said.

"What, and not ours? Come on. This affects everyone in town. Are we collateral damage now? You don't seem to be handling this situation any better than my daughter and I could. And you have a small army at your back."

"56 living under our roof last time I checked." He replied. "But numbers don't mean shit when it comes to this monster."

"And Asgeir? He have some kind of personal relationship with this individual?"

"More than that. He wants to make her suffer before killing her." I said. "She's the reason that Asgeir can't die, and he blames her for everything that has happened to him."

"What? What exactly happened?"

Matthew shook his head. "Things that would break most people. He wasn't supposed to make it out alive from the Gates from what Bill Miles told me. He was serving a death sentence for what he did, but the curse that afflicted him kept him alive and well enough to survive it. The thing about the Gates is that people that go in don't normally come out. It's too wild and untamed for anyone to find the resources. Food and water alike. And even if that is something one can find there, they have to deal with blazing heat in summer, and uninhabitable storms in the winter."

Marc suddenly burst into the meeting room. "Matthew. You better get outside. It's Asgeir! The villagers are outside!"

We headed out into the pub to the front door. Regina and Robin were close by with Marian, looking out the window. I could hear Asgeir's voice outside faintly on the front steps of Cormac's. Zar and Ruby were walking into the pub from the Bunker.

"Where's Elsa?" I said to Marc as he led us to the door.

"Emma was here with Hook. She told him to take her to the Sheriff's station and they left just before they got here. Didn't even ask for our permission or anything. Just had her taken out."

"Damn that woman!" Matthew said. "Her Majesty would be safer here! Don't let David or Snow out of here! We got this!"

"Matthew, there's going to be a mob outside and you think this place will stop them?" Zar said. "We need to talk to them. Get them to clear out of here before a riot starts."

"Have you not been listening?" Marc said. "Asgeir is outside, and he's doing a shit job of trying to do that. If what you would call the chaos outside 'trying'."

*BANG!* "I SAID BACK OFF!"

I ran for the door with Matthew behind me and ducked through the door. Asgeir stood on the steps of the pub with his shotgun pointed upwards, smoke faintly rising from the barrel. A large group of the villagers eyed him like frightened deer.

"You are digging your own grave here, Reaper." Leroy said, standing at the front of the pack. "All we want is your sister. She can't be allowed to walk free in this town. As long as she does we are all at risk!" He turned to the mob. "Elsa is the problem. Today it's Marian. Tomorrow she could freeze the whole town."

"Shut up, dwarf!" Asgeir snarled, starting to lower his shotgun. Almost starting to point it right at…

"Asgeir, stop!" I cried in disbelief. What was he doing?! He wasn't just playing with fire here. He was playing with it while in a powder room covered in gasoline.

Granny walked from the pack. "As much as I like to move the hot cocoa, someone has to stop her. Just give her to us, Asgeir."

"You all think it's her that froze Marian?!" He snapped. "Then you are all as delusional as the real culprit of this is. And I know just what needs to happen to those of delusional minds."

Then Asgeir did what I never would have believed him to be capable of doing: He dared to point his gun at the whole mob. And everyone knew he wasn't bluffing. Granny looked damn near close to another heart attack, and even Leroy couldn't hide the fear with his usual scowl. I heard screams and gasps rise from the crowd, but no one moved a muscle towards us.

"Now I will only say this one more time." He said, quietly. "Get. The. Fuck. Out."

"Asgeir, stop." I said, starting to come up behind him. "This isn't you."

"Be quiet, Jason." He said, still looking at the mob. "They all believe us to be the monsters here, don't they? They don't realize I spent my whole life trying to save them all, and all I got for it was to watch everyone I ever cared for die in front of me. They don't deserve our protection anymore if they don't believe in us!"

"Elsa and Anna are alive, you stupid prick!" I growled.

"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT ELSA AND ANNA!" He roared. "I WATCHED MORE THAN JUST THEM DIE IN FRONT OF ME. AND I WILL NOT LET ANYONE TAKE AWAY MY CHANCE TO GET EVEN WITH THE ONE THAT DID THIS TO ME, THE ONE THAT STARTED EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO ME, THAT CU-"

I had heard enough. Before Asgeir could finish, I smashed my handgun into the side of his face as hard as I could. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The massive gash on the side of his face healed up almost as soon as I saw it form, but it still left behind some blood smeared across his left cheek and temple.

I looked up from him as the door behind me opened all the way. "Ladies and gentlemen of Storybrooke." I started. "Please allow me to formally apologize for this disturbance. Unlike Asgeir, we are not shooting first and never asking questions."

"What do you have to say for what he just did? He pointed a gun at us!" Leroy snapped.

"Asgeir is not acting on our behalf. Not anymore, that is." Matthew strode out of the pub with Ruby behind him. "He is working on his own terms now, it would seem." He looked down on him in disappointment. "We are here to tell you that Elsa is not the one responsible for Marian's condition. Someone else is trying to frame her for it."

"Who is it?" Leroy demanded.

"The same person that is keeping up the ice wall, and the same person that we are here to take down. I promise you that this evil is our duty, and we will be the ones to stop it. We are Assassins. We do not wish harm to those of Storybrooke. We only wish to protect them."

Ruby walked forwards. "Matthew is right." She called out to the crowd. "I have known Asgeir to once be a thief and a killer, but with a code. And a good friend to me. He's beyond lost in his ways, but it doesn't mean the same for everyone that lives in Cormac's. I have seen women and men that fight for what they believe in, and protect those they know to be innocent. Elsa is not the one that we should be trying to take."

Leroy glared at Ruby, but differently than to us. "You believe in them, Ruby?"

"Yes." She replied. "Everyone here in this town believed that I was guilty of a murder that was on someone else's hands, yet they were scared enough to believe that it was me. No one under this roof believes it was Elsa, and neither do I. Please listen to me if you won't to them."

Granny put her hand on Leroy's shoulder. "I'll listen to my granddaughter any day, Leroy."

He glared hard at all of us. "Find who did this to Marian, and do it by sundown." He ordered. "Let's go!" He and the mob walked back down the hill except Granny, who came up to Ruby.

"Ruby, you don't have to stay here with these people." She said. "You'd be safer back home than here."

"What, you don't trust them?"

"After what I saw Asgeir just do? I don't think I'll ever see him the same way again. Regardless if my late brothers were Assassins or not."

Ruby looked down at Asgeir as Marc and Zar picked him up, by his arms and legs.

"Take him to his place in the inn." Matthew said. "He's not to leave Cormac's until I see fit. And that's going to be a long while from now."

"He's acting for his own interests, Granny." She said as they hauled him back in. "But he invited me and Ashley to stay here until this problem with whoever froze Marian is solved."

"Granny." Matthew said. "I respect you enough that I have to say this, curt as it may sound: your granddaughter is old enough to make her own choices. And while she isn't here on my invitation, I would allow her and Ashley to remain here considering the kind of threat that we are facing. I'd only ask that you agree with her choice either way."

"I'm staying here, Granny. It's where it's safest for the time being." Ruby assured her. "I'll be okay."

She placed her hands on her granddaughter's shoulders. "I know you will. Still doesn't stop me from worrying."

* * *

Asgeir was taken to his room in the inn, a guard was placed on his door, and the window monitored with one of our outside cameras. Elsa was still gone as we got order restored and everyone regrouped in the pub.

"Ingrid is running free through the town and she's struck one of the family now." Matthew said. "We need to find her, and we need to do it fast."

Zar held up his tablet. "The thermometers we had set up the other night have finally been transmitting the data back to us. So far the temperature drops throughout the town look to be coming from the wall, and not wherever Ingrid is hiding."

"Regardless of this, it's a start. There are very little ways that Ingrid will be able to hide from us, so we need to seize this chance to get her. Just as it was the other day, teams will be given their assignments and sent where to go through the woods. Find the Primary Target and neutralize her. Dead or Alive. Dismissed."

Zar started handing out pamphlets to the team leaders, and they headed out. Mark and Willis gave me a look as they headed out. Then I realized what it meant when everyone left in the pub were me, Rory, Torren our novice, and Zar. Matthew came up to us.

"What's going to happen to us with Asgeir out of the fight?" Torren said.

"Aye, Matthew." Rory added. "Th' boy was still our leader for the brief time he had. What happens now?"

"I'm leaving leadership of Lima Team to Zar while my two best men in this team are out of action. Jason, you are still on the drone for now, but I expect you to be back in the field before long."

"Aye, Mentor." I replied. "Though I'm not nearly as fast a healer as Asgeir."

It was meant as a small joke, but no one laughed. Zar and the others grabbed their rifles and headed out the door while I headed for the Bunker.

My drone was a small camera drone that had a few functions to give tactical aid to the Lima Team. Some drones in the arms dealings we had were prototypes with machine guns mounted on them, but they had been shipped away to their buyers before we had started using our goods ourselves. So anyone using drones had to be stuck with ones that couldn't fire a single shot. I swear, even with my trigger wrist sprained to shit, I could still get one good shot into Ingrid's skull if the drone had one mounted on it.

I wasn't kidding myself. I knew that Asgeir wasn't still the same good warrior that I had spent my whole life fighting alongside anymore. I had seen enough to know that for him, there would be no coming back from this. Matthew had wanted to believe it himself, but now that he had threatened to kill a whole group of innocent people right on the steps in front of the Mentor, I knew that there was no redemption for him. That was it for him. So now it might fall onto me to take Ingrid down. That was if my wrist could heal fast enough. If anything I had learned from what Asgeir had said, it was that I couldn't afford to miss one shot with her, with a lot more than just my 'never miss a shot' reputation at stake.

The drone had been hooked up to one of the stations in the Bunker to charge. Several other drone operators were already at their computers, sweeping the woods for Ingrid. I pulled the plug out of my drone and set it over at the dumbwaiter, which had been set up as an underground launcher for the drones in the Bunker. Sitting down at my station, a few of the other operators gave me either a quick glance or a nod in acknowledgment as I booted the drone up. When it was warmed up, I sent it flying up the dumbwaiter's shaft, where it stopped at another security door at the roof of Cormac's. The door opened and I sent my drone out, hovering over the air units on the roof and over towards Main Street. I could see Zar, Torren and Rory running out on the road as I swooped down and tailed behind them.

"Lima Team is en route to the forest, Mentor." I said through the radio.

"Excellent. All hands on deck, Assassins. We have another witch to find."

"Wait, hang on." One of the techs stood up beside me. "Something's tripped the sensors set up at the ice cream store, Mentor."

The drone's feed was sending data clearly, and we could see something. Three people walking right into the store as the team was running down the street right in it's direction.

"Mentor, how should we proceed?"

"Your call, Kingshark." Matthew replied, coming up behind me in the room. He leaned down to look at my feed. "But I would at least take a quick look."

"Roger." Zar beckoned the other two, and they cautiously walked through the door. The drone inched forwards, but then I heard shouting.

"Hey!" Emma was there and her gun was raised. David was also there, but the third one held back.

Zar and the others raised their arms. "Easy!" He said. "What are you doing, Emma?"

"Trying to find out who froze Marian. At least getting some help from this guy." She pointed her thumb at the third man, who stepped forwards.

Zar scowled. "Will fucking Scarlet." He said. "Mentor, you seeing him?"

I pushed the drone forwards to get a better look. Yeah, there was no mistaking him. The Will Scarlet that blew his chance with the Merry Men Assassins just so he could make his own big score. He may have once been one of us, but he proved to Robin that he played by no one's rules except his own when he tried stealing more than was necessary from Maleficent.

"'eah? And 'oos 'ere?" He said back. Then he got a closer look and noticed the hoods. "Oh yeah. I 'eard this whole village had turned into Assassin occupation. You doing a fantastic job keeping the peace."

"Stop. Everyone." Emma ordered. "Listen."

Everyone stopped talking, and even I landed the drone on the display freezer and put the drone's flight off for a minute.

"What, I don't hear anythin' Swan." Rory said.

"Exactly." Emma said, walking behind the drone and the freezer. "No compressor humming. No cooling system."

Zar looked down at the ice creams on display. "But they look frozen to me."

"Smart guy's telling the truth. Something's not right here."

Matthew leaned in closer. "They might know the woman that runs this place, but we maintain the cover. They can't know we bugged the whole place. As far as they know, this is not personal with us and Ingrid."

Torren piped up. "Might we check the back?"

"Right." Emma said, heading for the freezer door. David followed in along with Zar. Rory and Torren stood by while the drone hovered in.

It was a nightmare inside. The whole place wasn't just covered with ice. It looked like it could rival even Elsa's ice castle in the mountains.

"Gods be damned." Matthew murmured as the drone showed us the whole thing.

"Look at that." Emma muttered.

"Guess we owe Will an apology."

The rest of us just stood there in more shock than awe, until the team heard the doorbell ring. Rory lunged for the door, realizing what had happened. Will had booked.

Emma went for the cash register. "He's gone!" She snapped. "And he didn't leave empty handed." She started for the door, but David stopped her.

"Emma, stop. He's not the most important thing right now."

"So I just let him go?"

"And then you'll find him." Zar said. "But we need to do it later. Right now we need to track down the one that runs this place."

"Aye." Rory said. "Let's get to it, then."

Lima Team ran out of the parlor leaving Emma and David behind. I followed behind with the drone as Zar pulled out his radio.

"We got side tracked, Mentor. But we're back on the trail."

One of the drone operators suddenly stood up, at the row of stations in front of me. "I think I got something!"

Matthew leaned over to his station. "What is it?"

"The drone's in Sector Three. I think I'm seeing the Primary Target."

Matthew eyed the screen while I had to keep piloting my own drone. Lima Team ran past the Rabbit Hole and kept going, hoods raising.

"Yeah, that's her." Matthew grumbled. He pulled out his radio. "All Assassins converge on Sector Three. We've got a 20 on-"

Suddenly I saw the screen for the drone go white, then crack. Next it went black with red letters across the screen.

"_DRONE FEED OFFLINE_."

"She saw the drone. Move now and do it quick!" Matthew yelled.

* * *

Even though Storybrooke was a fairly small town, it was too big and wide for us to get there fast enough for Matthew, as he urged us to move faster and faster. All the vans had been taken out by teams covering further distances, so Lima had no means to get there fast enough. I was seeing desperation in Matthew's eyes and voice as Lima Team tried to catch up to the other teams. But soon enough we heard the feed from Willis.

"Mentor, we are heading in from the West. Primary Target is in visual with Elsa and Hook."

"Fuck…" I muttered. "We need to hurry up, Zar!"

"Our team is running as fast as we can!" He replied, looking to the drone as he ran. "Go on ahead of us."

I sent the drone high into the tops of the pine trees and weaved in and out of the branches above the floor. I honestly couldn't tell at this moment if this was good or bad that Asgeir was out of the fight until further notice. No one could deny how unhinged he had gotten with the threats he had made less than an hour ago, but he would have probably been at Ingrid already with a knife ready to cut her throat open. And it was as though we needed the monster he had turned into now; we were running out of time. What was Ingrid going to do with Elsa? Last time this happened she tried to turn her against Anna and Asgeir, and failed. Now she had stolen her memories of her and hoped to try again, but for what means?

Then I heard yelling from the feed.

"HEY! DAIRY QUEEN!"

Down below I saw Emma and the others heading in. And there was Ingrid, Hook and Elsa. Hook was iced to the ground by his feet with icicles forming just above his head. It was clear what Ingrid was going to do: framing Elsa to show her how 'savage' we all were.

"Emma?" Ingrid breathed.

Something about her tone got me as I was able to get the drone in behind a tree, yet able to see what was transpiring.

Emma looked at our target strangely. "Do we know each other?!" She demanded.

"…Of course not." Ingrid lowered her hand from the icicles she was forming. "Your reputation precedes you."

That can't have been true. Ingrid was a liar by her nature. But if Emma didn't seem to know her, then it was the same case with what she had done to Elsa: her memories had been removed.

"You really think that your magic is a match for mine?"

"There's only one way to find out." Emma replied.

She threw her hands forwards, blasting Ingrid backwards. David took the chance and charged for Hook, whipping out his knife and chipping away at the ice on his foot. Ingrid looked up and angrily forced the icicles to fall, but Emma reacted quick enough to pull them out of the way with a flick of her hand.

"You guys okay?" Emma said to them.

"Yeah, we're fine." David said as I saw several groups of Assassins running in. He got up. "Where is she?"

I turned the drone around, but it was no good. Ingrid had vanished.

Matthew slammed his fist against the table beside my console as more Assassins came rushing into the area. Zar came up to Elsa.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" He said.

"I-I think so." Elsa said. Then her expression hardened. "I want to speak to Matthew. And Asgeir. And I want it as soon as we return to the inn."

* * *

A quick debriefing in the pub, and soon everyone was back in their stations for the night at Cormac's. Elsa was quiet the whole time as Matthew and Keaton went over what had transpired over the day and what this meant. He mentioned how Ingrid had seen Emma and what this could mean, understanding what I had heard. Ingrid knew Emma somehow. Why or how had yet to be seen, but we had yet to talk to our expert on our target. Asgeir might have had an idea on it all in his years of exile, but his interrogation would be coming next.

Rory was the only one not taking a load off as the day's operations were shutting down. While everyone was hanging up their packs, he was grabbing the rest of his gear while Zar was also making preparations.

"George'll be taking advantage of the current situation to ensure his operations go unnoticed. This is as good a time as any that we'll be able to destroy one of his labs, so Rory will be heading in on his own. A simple sneak in and sneak out mission to sabotage their systems and blow the lab sky high."

"Good luck, buddy." I said, patting the Irishman on the back.

"I'd feel better with Asgeir still in action." He sighed. "As for the luck, I'm Irish. I'm lucky by heritage."

"You didn't see Asgeir today, Rory." I said. "He's not himself anymore. It could be Ingrid causing this erratic behavior from him, but clearly he's emotionally compromised from all this. He'll be out of action until further notice."

Rory gave me a look, before grabbing his rifle and walking to the door.

"Lucky stepping out." He said through his radio.

"Granted." Matthew's voice said through the radio. "Let him through, lads."

He and Keaton walked out from the hallway to the inn and came over to me, Zar and Elsa. The lock on the front door deactivated and Rory stepped out into the cool night air, closing the door behind him.

Our queen stood firm. "I need to speak with you, Matthew."

"You will get everything you want from us, Your Majesty." He said. "But we will be doing this with your brother in the picture. Follow us."

The two Mentors led us through to the inn, while Zar headed for the Bunker. Elsa's train dragged across the floor almost leaving behind a thin layer of frost on the hardwood flooring as I walked behind her.

Asgeir's room was up on the second floor of the inn, near the center of the rectangular room. A guard was posted in front, relaxing limp against the door, but when he saw the two Mentors and our Queen, he stood up straight.

"Anything to mention?" Keaton asked.

"Nothing, really." The guard replied. "He's tried breaking the lock on his chains a couple of times, but nothing seemed to work. For the past hour he's just muttered to himself a few times and hit his head against the wall."

"That can't be right." Elsa said in confusion. "I saw Asgeir break out of chains that bound him as though he was only scratching an itch."

"Clearly he's been broken more than we've noticed before by this Snow Queen." Keaton replied. "We'll be inside."

"Should I call for backup?" The guard said as he unlocked Asgeir's door.

"3 Master Assassins and our Ice Queen against the White Reaper?" Matthew said. "…I'd keep it an option."

Asgeir was sitting in the corner next to the radiator of his room, almost shivering. His hands were bound behind his back and his legs were chained at the shins. He remained just as quiet as he had been this morning as the four of us walked in.

When the room was locked, and everyone had settled in, Matthew started.

"Under the circumstances, Asgeir, you have done enough for expulsion from the Order. But right now, that may be the last thing we need from what the Snow Queen tried to do today."

Elsa looked at Matthew. "Wait, you know her? How? Why? What aren't you telling me?"

Asgeir eyed his sister with silent fury. What was going on in his mind? I wanted to speak, but unlike him, I was a committed soldier. I knew my place, and right now, that didn't involve speaking out of hand.

"You really don't remember anything, do you Elsa?" Asgeir whispered.

"No, Asgeir. I don't!" Elsa almost cried out. "How could you not tell me that there is another like me out there? Why didn't you?"

Asgeir only looked at her even harder. And that was all Elsa needed.

"You're going to kill her, aren't you?" She realized.

"Your Majesty, we aren't in Arendelle anymore, and do you know why?" Keaton said. "It's because that woman froze the whole place, along with your sister, her fiancé, and two of our brothers."

"Anna! Kristoff! But what happened?"

"Prince Hans. While Asgeir and Anna were gone, he tried taking over with his brothers, finding an urn that was rumored of being able to imprison people who knew magic. But the Snow Queen was already in there. She froze Hans and installed herself within your castle."

"And you let that…thing in." Asgeir snarled at his blood, pulling at his chains.

"Enough, Asgeir." Matthew said.

"Why did I do that?" Elsa said.

"We still don't entirely know, even though some of us were there." Matthew said. "I guess you desperately wanted someone like you within the fold, and didn't see the Snow Queen for what she really was. You would never harm a fly. But her? She easily saw that everyone who wasn't her or you deserved to die because of what happened to leave her in that urn."

"What-"

"Don't tell her." Asgeir said. "She wouldn't believe us anyways."

"And why should I, Asgeir?" Elsa snapped, turning on him. "You lied to me. You said that it was a woman named Cora trying to destroy this town, and instead I find out from her that you've turned insane. She told me things. Things I refused to believe until I find you locked up in here. You killed innocents!"

"Everything I did has led me on the path that will end with it bleeding in front of me, my hands around it's neck, and then my blade cutting it's throat open."

"What has gotten into you?!" She cried. "Why do you hate her so much? You were the one that killed that Assassin that tried to kill me. Ryan? How can you think like he did, now?"

"What it did to me was only the start of everything else that has made me suffer more than any one person should. Daniel Cross and the other Templars I faced through the years, they all deserved what they got. But now they all are gone, and the only one left, the only one I truly hate, the one pathetic excuse of a human that started all my suffering is it. And I will show it that it doesn't know suffering until now."

He really had gone off. He didn't even think Ingrid was a person anymore. An "it".

Elsa shook her head. The room started to drop in temperature. Then she turned to Matthew.

"What did the Snow Queen do to him? This isn't my brother. What has happened to him?"

Matthew began to shrug, brushing her off, but Asgeir held up his foot to substitute his chained hands.

"Show her, Matthew. No doubt the freak was going to tell her what it did to me soon enough. Just do it."

Matthew pulled out his gun and shot Asgeir right in the face. Elsa screamed and a few icicles formed on the ceiling as the shell fell right to the ground at Asgeir's feet. But instead of falling limp, dead against the wall, Asgeir got right back up, no bullet hole on his face. Elsa put her hand to her mouth in shock.

"How-?"

"I don't know." Asgeir said, sounding more calm and just as confused as we all were. "I tried to stop the Snow Queen, but it hit me with every curse it had. Including freezing my heart." Elsa was about to say something, but Asgeir cut in and kept talking. "Yeah, I know. How am I still standing here? I don't know. But I can tell you that no matter how much I've been able to resist it all, I'm nearly at my end."

Asgeir fumbled, trying to stand up. He fumbled with something in his back pocket, but dropped both of them before they went clattering to the floor. His lighter and cigarettes. I knelt over and picked both of them up behind him, then put one in his mouth and lit it for him. His eyes shined thankfully as he took a long drag on it, a large cloud of smoke coming from between his teeth.

"You want there to be no more secrets? Alright. I'll tell you everything before the Snow Queen kills us all. Later. But for now, you need to know my current situation. I'm dying. The ice in my heart has found it's way towards my life, and I'm on borrowed time now. I don't know how I know. I just know. And if you keep me here instead of letting me out there, then I'll be dead before long, and it'll have won."

He was dying? That must have explained part of his anger and desperation towards killing Ingrid. Although I wondered if maybe all this anger he had towards her was caused by the Spell of Shattered Sight being cast on him in it's worst form when Ingrid slashed him in the eyes with that knife made of the mirror. That made more sense than whatever else could have been an explanation for everything.

"We'll find a way to save you, Asgeir. But there's more vital matters now. When she saw Emma, the Snow Queen seemed to know her. There was something about how she spoke to her that doesn't sound right. Now do you know anything that might be of help?"

I may have seen a smallest flash of horror go across Asgeir's face, but it was gone faster than it appeared.

"Think it through, Matthew. I spent thirty years looking for her to no avail. I never even met Emma except during all that time travel bullshit. I don't have any idea what she would want with Emma. So don't ask me any more stupid questions and let me die in peace."

Matthew looked down on his failed pupil. "I hope this was all worth it, Asgeir. The Snow Queen will die, but not by your hands. So you better get comfortable while we find a way to stop her without you."

Asgeir only spat at the Mentors' feet and sat back into the corner, shivering. Now I knew why he was, with the ice already starting to reach his heart, just as it was with Marian downstairs. As he said, he was on borrowed time. And now, even with all that he had done, I doubted that we could take down Ingrid without his help.

* * *

Zar kept radio contact with Rory as best as he could. He was just entering the area of the lab by the time I had gone down to the Bunker to check on them.

"Lad, I appreciate the support, but I'm gonna have ta get out of radio contact for a while. I'll call yah when the lab is set to blow."

Zar hung up his radio and sat back in his chair, looking up at me. "What's the verdict?"

"Asgeir stays here in his room locked up until Matthew decides that it's time."

"That could be weeks! Matthew hasn't shown as much action as some of us would like to. Meanwhile we're the ones actually trying to take down George and the drug shipments going in and out of town."

"You still respect Asgeir after what he did today?"

"I knew Asgeir as he really was, Jason. We both did. He's not right in the head, and he doesn't need to be imprisoned. He needs help, whether he cares to admit it or not."

"I would agree, but who can help him? Us? He doesn't trust us because of whatever secrets he unearthed in his exile, and Matthew's trust in him has been more than shaken from the day he came here."

"You think it all has to do with whatever Asgeir learned in exile?"  
"More than just that. Matthew and his father must have been the ones to hide it from him based on how he talks to our Mentor now."

"Well, I don't want to know what it is, Jase." Zar said. "If it's as bad as Asgeir seems to think, then this could fracture our branch completely. And we can't be turning on each other with Ingrid out there."

And then it came back to me; 'Turning on each other'. This was exactly what had happened to Asgeir and his sisters back in Arendelle. Ingrid was planning to unleash the Curse of Shattered Sight on everyone in the kingdom. And if she was attacking now, after so many years, then it must mean that she had everything she needed to use it on this town.

A low rumble suddenly erupted, coming from outside. The Bunker shook lightly, but Zar and I knew what had happened, even before Rory came back on the two-way.

"Mission accomplished, lads. Those tweakers couldn't help but make another batch. I'm running back to base."

"Stay safe, Rory." Zar said, looking at me worriedly. "We all will need to."

**Cue "Sucker For Pain" by Imagine Dragons**

**A/N: Things will get worse for the Assassins before they get better. I hope to get the next chapter to you guys soon enough as we see the first part in Asgeir's story of what he did that sent him to the Gates.**


	35. Chapter 35: Past- Myling

**A/N: Too long, too long. That's all I can say. Even I am disappointed in myself. With me starting school in September, though, it clogged up my schedule with papers and everything. Plus the place I work at becomes very very busy around Christmastime. That's why I have a special announcement for you guys. The next update will be not one chapter, not two, but all the rest out of Sequence 3! That will cover everything out of Season 4's first half, heading into the part that I am most excited about now, Sequence 4.**

**Quickly, for any readers of mine who may not have caught this, I want to also mention that one of my ****favorite games of 2016 came out between this update and the last: Dishonored 2. Any fan of the Assassin's Creed series owes it to themselves to play this amazing stealth game. While I enjoy AC's story immensely, Dishonored 1 and 2 currently have me for having much better gameplay and adaptive story content than AC. In Dishonored, your choices truly will affect everything around you. Check it out, because anyone who is caught up might find something new coming into Asgeir's story soon enough... And if anyone has read any of my other content, they might notice something about where Asgeir is when the flashbacks start...**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thank you for waiting patiently, and I promise that next update will be the rest of Sequence 3 all in one package! Bye!**

* * *

Chapter 35: Past- Myling

**January 1****st**** 2012 12:30 AM**

The riverbank was covered in thick, foggy ice as I climbed out, shivering. I felt colder than I ever had before, yet I knew I'd survive freezing to death. The curse would see to it that my pain would be made as long and as bad as possible. I just lay on the ice, hearing it crack lightly under my weight. It was thick enough for me to just lay there, wishing I was dead.

I didn't regret what I did to get here. Bill just would never believe that I did it to finally try to grab and take back what life always insisted on taking away from me at every step. After Ingrid, anytime I tried to get close to happiness or hope, it would be taken away from me.

I turned my head slightly over, looking out at the river. I saw the Brook Horse stick it's head out from the river. It held its right hoof upstream. Out of the darkness, out of thin air, a small wooden bridge appeared to let me cross.

I thought that it meant I would get the key as well, but then the Brook Horse held out it's empty left hoof to me, summoning the key in its right. I understood. It wanted something from me, and I knew what, thanks to my research.

Crossing the bridge, I kept running it all through my head what I was seeing. More and more information lost to the Assassins was suddenly being shown to me in pieces, but what did it all have to do with the Masters? Why did Matthew and my father even destroy the pages in the first place, then lie that it was the Templars that had burned them? Shay had faced little opposition on his path to claim Arendelle for the Templars. He had eventually turned the King and Queen he loathed, or their children, because it was what made the most sense to me. The same went for the Lady Jannika and her future with the Rogue. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but I could tell this woman would be the one that Shay took for his wife when all the fighting was over. All the pieces were coming together for Shay to take over Arendelle. But there must have been something that toppled his whole structure over. Otherwise he would have been spoken in such positive light in the history books of Arendelle. But as Anna had once told me, Shay had never been mentioned in the history books. This murder of Gustav Vollan however, had been now that I thought about it. Murdered by a disgruntled servant, so it was said.

I needed to stay focused, however. I would freeze if I didn't keep moving, and I did not need the ice in my heart to get any help. I needed to get the key from the Brook Horse, and I knew what it wanted in return. A Myling.

Now considered to be one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, some women throughout Ancient Nordic lands were known as Angel Makers. They spent their days seeking out poor mothers who could not afford to care for a newborn they had, and gave them the hope of homes for their babies. It cost the mothers nearly everything that they had, but the Angel Makers would promise they would have proper homes. And then they would drown them. The sorrowful souls of those young lives lost to the monsters came to be known as the Mylings. Often it fell to the Brook Horse to take them onto the next realm. Yet, clearly this one didn't have one to take to the afterlife, so it wanted a trade. A Myling for him, and the key for me.

The bridge was studier than it looked, and I could feel the Brook Horse eye me as I kept walking through the trees on the other side of the river, which began to thin out more and more. Soon enough it became even clearer to me than before that I was no longer in the Interior. Flat farmlands stretched as far as my eyes could see in the snowy darkness. And not far away was a windmill.

Worn and weathered, I knew that it wasn't put there by anyone else if there truly were more souls in this realm. Why would anyone put a sole windmill with nothing else close by to show signs of a village or anything else nearby? This was all the structure that existed in this demiplane.

Had what I done truly been enough to make me deserve this? Was I now forsaken by all to die in the cold, in the darkness, all alone with the eyes of five devils watching my every move? I kept thinking this as I opened the door.

It was not a windmill inside. It was a pub. A familiar pub. Modelled to look like an older Irish pub, but this one was straight out of the West Side of Manhatten. People were inside, as if it was any Friday afternoon, and the stool I usually sat at was vacant. Suddenly I knew what I was seeing.

"NO!" I thundered. "I WILL NOT! SHOW ME NO MORE!"

But it was too late. The door into the windmill closed, and when I tried to open it again, I saw it lead out to a concrete staircase up into the streets of New York City. I was trapped. I yelled and slammed my fist, but none of the patrons around the bar even took notice. No response of any

With no other options left, I closed the door and sat at my place at the bar. This time, the bartender noticed me, and took my order of a pint. I sat back, knowing what was coming. This was how it happened. This was how I was sent to The Gates.

* * *

**March 2006**

PTSD. That's what the therapist diagnosed me as when I returned from my last mission from the Masters about 8 months ago. I was relieved of active duty for the Assassins and told I could sit out for the foreseeable future. I took it reluctantly, yet with some relief; I had had enough fighting after seeing the worst of mankind and the things that they could do.

I found a decent place in New York, and soon settled into my routine. No need for a job or much. Just did my best to hide from the Templars in the Big Apple, and on a few occasions, do what I could to drink myself into an early grave. If only Anna and Elsa could see me now. Yet another chapter in my life ending with everyone I cared for either being killed or pushed away.

Three pints in, and only 3:54 in the afternoon. Not sure if I would call it a good start, but it was a start of some sort.

"This what I was to come to expect of you one day, Asgeir?" Said a voice. "Drinking your way to dust?"

I glanced over my shoulder, then rolled my eyes, grabbing a handful of nuts in the bowl beside me.

"What do you want, Bill?"

"A pint of that would be nice." He said, rubbing his beard. He waved at the barkeep. "What he's drinking." He said, nodding to me.

"Alright then." He said. "Want a top up, Asgeir?"

"No thanks, Carl." I said. "I was just about to leave. Add it to my tab."

"Surely." He said, grabbing a glass for Bill.

I got up from my seat, but Bill planted his arm firmly on the bar table.

"I'm not here for the beer, Asgeir."

"I would figure not." I said, idly. "But if you want my help for whatever it is, then you can find someone else. You made it clear to me last time we saw each other what you thought of me."

Bill shook his head. "There is no one else for this job, Asgeir. Which should tell you just how badly I need your help for this job."

I pulled my hoodie off the bar stool. "You hated how I handled the last job, and told me to go burn in hell for how I did it. You really want me to do it again?"

"No. Because it's an extraction, not extermination."

He avoided using the word "assassination" for obvious reasons.

"Then it makes even less sense for me to join up. I said find somebody else." I said.

Bill turned on the bar stool just as Carl put his beer on the bar table. "And then leave all the info we found on your aunt buried?"

I felt the blood leave my face. What little I could see of my own nose went gray. I could barely respond except with my breath getting caught in my throat.

"We've been looking into all the information you tried providing us for the past year. I got a call after you moved here telling us to bump up tracking her down to one of the highest priorities. Sit down, please."

I did. The Masters _had_ lived up to their end of the bargain, making sure that this was my payment for the last couple missions from them.

"Our intel teams think that we're looking into her because she's a Templar." Bill said, lowering his voice. "If you help with the extraction, we give you all that we have on her, along with a list of possible locations."

I looked over at Bill. "I want more than the promises of an old man, Bill." I said. "Words are wind."

"I had a feeling you would say that." He said, reaching into a briefcase he carried with him. He took out a piece of folded up paper, and slid it right in front of me on the bar.

"A contact passed this to me through Boston's police database. Someone froze to death in Franklin Park last winter. No one gave a second thought about the death, except one woman walking her dog around the time of potential death came forth with a suspect description. This was the sketch they got from it." Bill took a large swig of his pint.

I gingerly unfolded the paper, stopping only when I was able to unfold the top half. I had serious doubts seeing her whole face wouldn't send me into a flying rage.

I eyed the drawing. Blonde hair, yes. Significantly old, possible mid-forties, early fifties. But it was those eyes. Cruel, cold, and insane.

"There's much more, but only when you finish the mission with us. You're leading the team."

I folded the paper, putting it back into my pocket, my fingers trembling. "I can live with that." I said, coming back to the pub.

We didn't say much more until after Bill finished his beer and paid for it. Then we headed back up into the streets of New York. If only I knew that I wasn't going to be paying back that tab any time soon.

"We got a name on the guy we're snatching, Bill?" I asked, hailing a cab.

"Yes." Bill replied. "He's the reason I only have so many people that I can trust with this mission: my son, Desmond."

An older sedan cab pulled up, and we climbed in.

"Where to, fellahs?" The cabbie asked.

"JFK airport, and fast." Bill replied.

* * *

Bill was still trying to be as cautious as he could, especially at the airports where the Templars had a lot of their eyes and ears pointed at. He avoided saying too much in the cab, and at the terminal. Too much sensitive information to be just handed over to them. I was already using three different aliases at the moment to hide from Abstergo. A quick stop at my apartment to grab my personal things, and we were off.

Soon enough we were walking across the runway at JFK airport, where Bill brought about the briefing.

"We're chartering a jet for this mission. Abstergo's systems tripped an alarm in a village north of Helsinki. We believe Desmond is out there."

"Finland?" I asked. "Why would he go that far?"

"You weren't at the Farm that much when he was with us, Asgeir." Bill said. "My relationship with my son was… complex. I reckon he wanted to get away from me as far as he could."

I knew Bill to only be hiding the truth from himself. He was little more than a drill sergeant, viewing his son as a soldier, and not a child. One might argue he should have been better prepared for our war against the Templars, but I can at least say that what few memories I have of my father, he knew when to be a good teacher, and when to be a good father.

"In any case, we reckon that Abstergo will be sending in its forces to grab Desmond. That's where you come in. I need you to lead the team into the village. Find Desmond, and get out. Fast."

He took out a file from his briefcase and handed it to me. "Your team members." He said. "What you need to know."

"We don't have time for that yet, Bill." I said, taking it. "I'll read it on the flight."

"Alright." He replied. He handed me a large sealed envelope as well. "This is to be opened when you land. The instructions including where the weapons cache is."

We walked into the hanger doors where mechanics walked quickly around the jet we were chartering. Already it looked like they were finishing up the maintenance, which meant that we were about to take off A small private passenger jet. Like the ones billionaires flew in. Made me wonder how much of our finances we were spending just to get the kid out of Finland. Too much, I began to think.

A blonde in a white hoodie sat on a metal crate, pushing bullets into a clip.

"Miles." She said, looking up at us. "You're late. They were gonna take off in fifteen."

"Apologies, Galina." He replied. "Just needed to grab our team leader for this op."

She eyed me, raising her brow. "Never seen him before. You sure he not one of Abstergo bastards?"

She had a heavily accented voice. Russian, I guessed.

"Not Asgeir, Galina." He replied. "But he is the only one that I can trust to lead this op, so you will be following his orders."

She shrugged, shaking her head. Then she murmured something in Russian before climbing up into the plane. I could make out a few other people inside from the tiny windows.

Bill turned to me. "Galina's like that. But she has good judgement. She likely would have a good reason if she doesn't do what you tell her to."

I was not impressed. "First you tell me this op is of the most sensitivity that you need me after damning me, and then you tell me that the first member of my team has a record of disobedience? I can't have that, Bill."

"Then you know just how bad my choices were for this team if it's made up of the only people that I can trust with the mission."

I groaned, then shaking my head, began climbing up to the plane. Already I was hearing the chatter amongst the pilots in the front cockpit to the tower, and mechanics clearing out.

"You're not coming with us?" I asked.

"No." Bill said. "With things as complicated as they had been, I think it best that Desmond be brought up to speed before seeing me."

"Alright, then." I said, understanding. "We'll find him, Bill."

"I know." He replied. "See you soon."

I turned and headed into the passenger cabin just as the plane's door and ramp began to close.

Galina was standing by the doorway when I came in, with the rest of our team sitting around in their seats. I saw a boy around 20 with dirty blonde hair, a slightly older woman with dark hair cut short and a pair of headphones typing away at a laptop in her seat, another Assassin seated in a chair facing away from me and his hood up, and… no.

She still had her hair pulled back in a tight bun to keep it out of her eyes, and I even spotted the sole Templar ring hanging from a chain on her neck. A souvenir, much like the ones that I had taken from other Templars over the years, except she only took the one when it was enough to satisfy whatever personal vendetta she had against Abstergo.

I fumbled with the file in my hands, cursing me at not bothering to look at the file. She glared up at me as I flipped through the pages. The picture of her in her profile had a similar angry look, but she didn't always have that scowl on her face. I had once gotten her to smile.

And there her name was; right at the top of the page. If I had bothered to look into the file before I climbed into the plane, I'm not sure I would have gone. Even for the file on Ingrid.

"Ruthe."

She gave a rude noise in her mouth. "Asgeir."

* * *

Three hours into the flight and I began to ask around. I needed to know my team if I was to lead them into battle. Not Ruthe. I couldn't face her just yet.

Galina was quiet, but using what little Russian I knew, I got some from her. It turned out she was the last of the whole Russian brotherhood. She had recently killed a lot of that branch after most of them were driven insane by Abstergo's new project. A computer able to make people relive the lives of their ancestors by decoding their DNA. They called it the Animus. That was all I was able to pry from her before she shut herself up under her hood. I could see the anxiety and pain of what she had to do in her eyes.

I got up from my seat, walking across the cabin, and sat across from the other girl. I gave a glance at her profile while she kept typing away at her computer.

"Not that much to read, there." She said, not looking up from her screen,

"Sorry?" I said, a little surprised.

Setting her computer aside, she pulled her headphones off. "There's not too much interest you might find there. My profile."

I shook my head. "I might beg to differ, Rebecca Crane. Not every day you find a computer engineer who has a history like yours."

"Flattering." She commented. "You think that's going to get the whole lot of us to follow your orders? I mean, I will. But I've been assigned as more of the eye in the sky on this mission."

"If you know Bill, then you'd know that he has an infinitely good reason to have me lead his team. I at least hope that we can get along here."

"Yeah." She replied. "This guy Desmond I've heard a thing or two about. Says he's really important, but he's his son. What else is he supposed to say bout him?"

I shrugged. "What is it you've been working on? I've barely seen you look up from the computer since we reached cruising altitude."

"Just a project of mine. I've been working with the other engineers we have on our sides. Been programming the new drone technologies we've stolen from Abstergo."

"No kidding?" I said. "So you have all this stuff at our disposal for the mission?"

"Yeah. Bill wanted to make sure I'd have every way to provide support. Field work isn't exactly my forte, you see. As for how I'm doing it, I couldn't stand with the garbage computer programs Abstergo programs into their drones. I've been working on my own for a long time. They may have all the money and best brains, but they don't get it. This is art as much as it's science!"

She clearly was proud of her work, and rightfully so from what little I could make out as she showed me. She used a lot of big words as she showed the process of the program.

"Anything they do, you do better, I guess." I admitted.

Rebecca smirked. "Hell yeah."

The younger boy Assassin ducked out of the cockpit and sat down across the aisle from us. "Boring our leader with all that PC bullshit, Becs?" He chuckled, faking a yawn.

Rebecca lazily waved her hand away. "What do you have to work on, Pat? Go wipe your nose."

The words were hostile, but the tone was not. These two were friends.

I had seen a bit of his profile, Patrick Lozada. Joined with us in early 2002 after dropping out of Columbia Law School. The profile didn't list why, though. At his discretion.

Then there was Scott. He had his back to me when I walked in, but he and I spent the good first hour talking, and he turned out to be a lot more on board with following me than anyone else.

"That's an interesting name, Asgeir." He said. "Where are you from?"

"It's Norwegian." I replied. Because it is. "I was raised near London, but I was born in Oslo."

It had been the story my father gave me the first time he took me to this world. I was five, but had been raised smart enough to understand most complicated matters. Death and war, among other things.

"Not bad. Somerset, meself. Never thought much of those big city folk. Especially in Westminster. Always think themselves the top of the food chain while the heels of their boots crush the life out of the rest of us."

"And that got you to join up with us?"

"Nay." He replied. "My reasons are sort of the same as Pat, you see."

I hadn't spoken with him yet, so this caught me for a bit. Scott could see that based on my expression.

"Oh…" He whispered. "Aye, you don't know. Did you read his file?"

"Briefly." I replied. "He joined up with us back in early 2002. Had to drop out of law school."

"Aye. And I don't blame him for doing so. He lived in the Bronx, you see."

I started to wonder what Scott was implying, thinking hard. Living in New York, early 2002. I started to work my way back in time before it hit me.

"That's right." Scott said, reading my face again. "His uncle worked in the North Tower. They had to bury an empty coffin."

"Fuck… and you?"

"I didn't have family in New York at the time." He replied. "But after September I knew that I couldn't stand by if the world was fated to be thrown into fear and chaos. Luckily I was found by the right people in my efforts. I'm pretty good with computers, you see. Not nearly as good as Becs, but good enough. My presence on Abstergo's networks while I was snooping tripped the Assassin's presence there, and they contacted me not long afterwards."

"Good for you, Scott." I said, quietly.

"And you, mate?"

"Born into the order." I replied. "My father, and his father before him, and so forth. My father told me it went as far back as twenty generations."

"Mother Mary!" Scott exclaimed. "You serious?"

Even I didn't believe it the first time I heard it, but it made as much sense to me as anything else.

Ruthe peeked her head out of the front cabin. She was about to say something to Scott, but then stopped herself as she glanced at me, briefly. Then she pulled her head back in.

"You know Ruthe?" Scott asked.

I looked back at him, and solemnly nodded. No words, no breaths. Just a nod.

Scott looked like he could fill in those blanks. "I'm sorry, mate."

I was too.

* * *

It was nearly 3 AM when we landed in Helsinki. The car rental place closed hours ago, so we would have to wait until dawn.

Sitting down in the waiting area, the team eyed me as I took out the envelope, and cut it open. But as I began to look it over, I groaned.

"Does anyone know Assassin ciphers?"

I held out the paper. Instead of coherent words, the instructions were all written with random letters. Random to me, at least; I hadn't dealt with Assassin ciphers in over a year.

Rebecca took a look at the paper. "Not a cipher I'm exactly familiar with. Maybe the Vigenere cipher?"

Scott took it from her, and eyed it. "Maybe. Yes, that would be my guess." He said. "But it's useless without the keyword. Anyone got any paper?"

Ruthe quietly took out a pad and a pen, handing them to Scott.

"Thanks." He began to draw furiously a grid down.

"This part of the cipher?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied, not looking up from the paper. "Bill obviously doesn't want the instructions to fall into the wrong hands during the mission, so he had them encrypted. If I start the grid, I may be able to figure out the message."

I thought for a moment. A keyword would be needed to encrypt the whole thing.

"How does it work?" I asked.

Scott held out the grid he was writing. "The basic setup is this: You write out the message, then write the keyword down underneath the message over and over and over again until it goes through the whole thing. See here…" He pointed. "The x axis represents the message letters, and the y axis represents the encryption letters. You take the two letters and find the letter that meets those coordinates. That's the new encrypted letter."

"So to decipher it…" Patrick said, catching on as I was. "You'd write…"

"You'd write the keyword over and over underneath the encrypted message." Scott said, nodding. "It's pretty much going backwards."

"And you need a keyword." I said. I had an idea of what it was. "Maybe try…Desmond."

He said. "Alright." He jotted down a few of the letters, taking it through the cipher matrix. "Hey! It's worked! The first word is 'instructions'."

"Then we're on the right track. Keep it up, Scott." I replied. I turned to the others. "We got a few hours before the rental place opens." I said. "Until then, we have some time to kill. Go get something to eat, or sleep. We're going to need it for the job."

"_Da_." Galina replied. "Place opens at 6. We meet back here?"

"Yep." Rebecca replied. "Let's do it."

Everyone else headed off in different directions. I remained sitting there near Scott, and opted to instead get some sleep. I pulled my hoodie off, rolled it up into a pillow, and fell back onto it, going out like a candle.

* * *

It was reaching dawn when I awoke. The only person sitting beside me was the one person I was both dreading to talk to, but knew I had to.

"Hi."

She didn't know I was awake, nearly jumping out of her pale skin as I spoke.

"Asgeir." She said quietly, but no less harshly.

"Are we gonna speak again to each other, or is this how it's gonna be for the rest of the mission?"

"There's nothing worth talking about anymore." She said. "You made it very clear to me what really meant the world to you."

"You still do." I replied. "You still mean everything to me."

Her eyes shined angrily. "You dare try to lie to me again? Asgeir, I was one of the only people who believed in you after Steven. And maybe it felt real once, what we had between us. But you could never move past what had happened."

I scowled. "The freak made me so that I could never die no matter how hard I tried."

"And is that what you wanted?" She snapped. "To die even though I was there for you?"

"No." I muttered. "Not instantly. I wanted to grow old just like any other human being. Live a proper life and then die. But she took that away from me."

"I know. But I did all I could to console you, and it wasn't enough. You were obsessed with the woman."

"I am not obsessed!" I snapped.

"You were, and are." Ruthe growled back. "You are so obsessed with finding her and killing her. It happened almost twenty five years ago, Asgeir. If you truly wanted to move on, you could have done it with me."

This was what I dreaded. My pride was stopping me from admitting the one thing here. I knew that Ruthe was right. I had met her years ago, and we had hit it off. Even while on the run from the Templars after the Purge, she and I still stayed together. But I knew that if I had wanted to really live a life with her, I would need to kill Ingrid. Take away my immortality so I could die with her. She saw obsession, and maybe she was right. But she didn't know what it felt like to have my entire family killed by that madwoman.

"And then I hear about the termination job three years ago?"

That struck a chord with me. "Bill tell you about Jeff?"

"Of course, he did. He knew about our history. He wanted me to know that instead of finding some reasonable way to move on from me, you made that poor boy suffer too far."

"What I did to Jeff had nothing to do with you, Ruthe." I snapped. "He was an animal who too much pleasure in cutting people open and leaving their houses a mess of meat and blood."

"And so, what? You make him suffer as they did? That's what the Templars do, Asgeir. Not us."

"My life was stolen from me, Ruthe." I snarled. "And I will not stop until everyone responsible for taking what was most precious to me is wiped from the face of existence."

Ruthe looked horrified, of course. She tugged at the bun on her head. "_You_ were what was precious to _me_, Asgeir. _I loved you!_" She whispered. "I just wished that you could say the same for me. But we both know that if you did, that would be a bigger lie than either of us have heard. All that's left for you is blood."

Galina came out of the washrooms, then looked out the glass wall overlooking the arrivals lane of the airport.

"Guys!" She called. "Patrick's here with the van!"

* * *

The drive took almost an hour as we headed North. It was very cold out, this particular day. There was silence except for Scott, who's directions became more and more numerous the further we drove North. The seats in the van were oddly arranged, with two seats in the front, a row facing backwards, and the last two rows facing forwards. Patrick and Scott sat at the front, Rebecca and Ruthe in the next row, and Galina and me sitting further back. The last row of seats carried the bags that didn't fit in the trunk.

"Bill said the cache will be here. Turn right here." Scott said.

Rebecca unplugged something that had been hooked up to her laptop in her bag.

"Let's just check it out first." She said. She flipped a switch on the object, and it jumped up, hovering in the air for a second. It was a camera drone.

Galina cranked her window down to let the drone loose. Rebecca began typing in the commands before taking out a joystick, and sending the drone out into the frost.

Scott turned around so that he could see what was on Rebecca's screen. Then there was more commands from him as he guided her with the drone.

"There!" He suddenly said after a while. "That's the crate. We take what we need from it, and leave the rest."

Galina and I jumped out to grab the crate, leaving the van behind. It was buried underneath some snow behind the abandoned shack at the edge of these woods. Someone came across the drift, they likely wouldn't think anything off it since the snow was still here.

Galina dropped down onto her hands and knees, digging furiously for the crate. I only stood by. My lack of effort didn't go unnoticed.

"You gonna help me, _Mudak_?" She said.

I shook my head. "I hate snow." Ever since...you know.

She scowled, shaking her head, and muttering in her language once more.

Soon enough she pulled out the crate from the snow, this time with my help as we carried it to the van.

"First come, first serve." I said, pulling the door open. "Let's go."

Nearly everything in the crate was either bladed weapons, or guns with silencers on them. Though Bill had made it clear that he didn't want any more attention to be brought to us with this job. We had to be as discreet as we could, and this was the best that we got.

"Asgeir!" Patrick called for me. "This gun's been labelled with your name on it."

I looked over, puzzled. Patrick handed me then gun, which I indeed noticed to hold my name on it. It was my old air rifle. Still with the grenade launcher attached, but the only ammunition that had been provided for it were pouches of berserker and sleep darts.

"It is yours, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "You see if my Hidden Blades are here, too?"

"Yeah, those are labelled the same way here." Scott called from the other side of the crate. Then he strapped a sword onto his jeans.

"Alright." He said. "Bill told us to leave the crate here, so we do that. The area where our intel believes Desmond to be is within walking distance. We head through the woods to the North-East."

"I'll drive over with the van." Rebecca said. "Thank god for Google. I got a good idea where these houses are. You head on foot and then I'll pick you up."

"Saddle up, then." I replied.

* * *

Scott gave me the compass to lead the team. It was a simple route. The trees were thin enough that we didn't have to change direction that much. We kept heading due North East for about half an hour before they thinned out enough for us to make a small group of houses on a small hill. We hid by the trees.

"Scott?" I asked.

Scott looked down at his notepad. "Instructions say that Desmond is living in the number seven house. Second one from the southern edge."

"Alright." I said, taking out the binoculars. I peered through and looked hard at what we should expect. "Let's take this quietly. Two of us take the front door, two to the back, and two through the balcony door."

"Windows?" Galina said.

"I doubt Demond's going to run that far from us since we aren't here to kill him." I said. "But if he does go through one of the windows, I can hit him with this." I tapped my air rifle. "Now pair up."

Then came the little snag. We had only five with us with Rebecca as our getaway driver. And I knew for a fact Ruthe wouldn't dare pair up with me. She already grabbed Galina's wrist and held it so tightly she cried out.

I sighed as I saw the boys pair up. "Fuck. I'll take the balcony"

This was like those classroom assignments they have in elementary schools. In an odd numbered class, one of those blokes was gonna end up all alone and have to do the project themselves.

It was a large field separating us from the houses. We kept as low as we could and headed across the field. The whole neighborhood seemed a bit deserted but I could hear the grinding of a swing on a swing set in one of the fenced backyards as we circled around, and the bark of a dog. I even saw a few neighbors over by a driveway on the far side chatting away with each other.

This place was almost like some kind of European suburb. But Desmond was supposed to be in his twenties. I couldn't shake the confusion I felt that he wasn't here as I climbed the stairs up onto the balcony. It wrapped around the house before coming to a door on the back. Ruthe and Galina walked around the house to the back door, while Scott and Patrick got to the front.

"Ten seconds." I said through the radio. I began to count as I got ready to bust the door open.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…

*BAM* *BAM* *CRASH*

We broke open our doors and I jumped inside, pulling out my rifle.

"Desmond Miles." I called out, looking down the hallway.

No response.

"Clear down here." I heard Scott call.

"It's all clear here." Rebecca replied. "No one's outside."

"I got something here." Galina replied. "TV's on in the next room."

I looked down the darkened hallway, inching down it with caution. There were three doors down the hall, so I did what I felt and opened the first door.

Something flew out of the doorway and smacked me in the face. A dark figure jumped for me and punched me once, twice, three times.

"Young man. Mid twenties." I heard him whisper. He looked back into the other room. "This isn't Miles. Find the others."

"Yessir." I heard a reply.

It suddenly processed with me. The figure tried to cover my mouth, but it was too late.

"TRAP! IT'S A TRAP!" I hollered. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

The figure took out a cloth and shoved it into my face. It was a strong odor and it made me dizzy. Then I felt the carpet come up to meet my face.

* * *

Next moment I felt, my face was on pavement, instead. When I lifted my head a bit I felt that oh so familiar object on the back of my head, followed by a click.

"Don't move, Assassin." I heard say right above me.

I didn't. Because for now, they didn't know about my regeneration.

It looked like I was laid on the ground right behind a large truck, which was getting packed up with various crates. Men with rifles rushed back and forth between the trucks and whatever was behind me.

"What are we keeping the prisoner alive for, Juhani?" I heard two troops talking.

"Ask Cross when he comes around. Orders from command that we deliver this guy to their headquarters in Helsinki. Don't know what comes next. As for his friends, do we have their location?"

I heard footsteps, and a familiar voice. "No." He growled. "They were slippery little bitches. But we'll get them."

The man turned me over, then put his foot on my chest,

"Asgeir." Daniel Cross sneered. "Too long, old friend."

I scowled. "Fuck you." I replied.

"Here we were, setting up a trap to lure William Miles out of hiding and instead we get you, The Reaper." He turned to the others. "My employers will be very pleased. This guy may not be who we were hoping for, but I know that they will be happy we grabbed him instead."

"Command told us that they were planning on bombing this neighborhood, Mr. Cross." The taller troop said.

"And they were, Lieutenant Berg." He replied. "You're looking at an officer of one of the Western world's most active terrorist groups."

"There's gotta be more to this that you aren't telling us."

"Juhani…"

Daniel narrowed his eyes. "I would advise you to listen to your teammate, Berg. This was a matter of concern for Abstergo, not the Utti Jaeger regiment."

I still don't know to this day how Abstergo was able to get a division of Finland's own military to get involved with this, but to this day I don't exactly care. It happened, nevertheless, and as Cross had his men jam another sedative into my arm, the only thing that kept my hope alive was the thought that Ruthe and the others had gotten away.

* * *

I felt myself fall backwards through the darkness, right through a doorway and into snow. The arms of a windmill loomed right above me. I was back in Hell.

I got up, dusting the snow off me for what felt like the seven-hundredth time that night.

I had loved Ruthe a long time ago. She told me herself that she loved me. The time I had spent with her, it was all that I did to try to move on from what Ingrid had done to me, and to try to move on past Elsa and Anna's deaths. She was all that I had left to love. But she said that she saw an obsession with me. Despite the fact that she claimed to believe that I was from another land, and everything else I told her about the other realms, she began to think that I loved the idea of slicing Ingrid's throat open more than getting the chance to see her smile.

I now look back and know that she was wrong. If I could go back, I wouldn't change anything because deep down, she just couldn't believe what I told her. That's what I saw. And blood.

No, I actually was seeing blood. Blood in the snow, right at my feet. Droplets of it fell down from above to a puddle in front of me. When I looked up, I saw what I was looking for. The Myling.

It was silent, looking like a paper white baby in a paper white bundle, with blood streaming down its eyes, nose, and mouth. It was just within arm's reach.

I jumped and grabbed it. Instantly, it began to wail loudly, crying more shrilly and more loud than any other baby I had heard before.

"Shush!" I cried, carrying it back the way I came. "We aren't done here, yet. Not without you."

It didn't help. The Myling kept wailing so loud and so fiercely, I was beginning to fear it was going to attract a bear or something worse. This was only the third of the Watchers I had faced, and there were two more left. Two more that were even worse than this little bitch.

The Myling wailed all the way to the river. As the Brook Horse eyed me from the water, I groaned. Carelessly, I chucked the Myling right at it. The creature still took it from me, and not long after conjured back up the key, sending it right to me.

I was about to grab it, when I heard a croak. Not of a toad's but of a crow's.

"No!" I cried. "My key!"

It was no use. A dark shape swooped down and grabbed the key, it's wing suddenly striking me in the face. As I did, another image hit me.

Black hood and furs. It was the same face I saw, but I could just barely recognize him. And he sat by another fire with another familiar face. Kristoff.

A black void in his eyes just like the last time. But another shape took form from within, as well. A half circle.

I barely recognized him because I didn't think that what I was seeing was possible.

What the Watchers were showing me were three different stories. The first was Shay's story of what happened after destroying the Assassins of the Colonies. The second was what had happened to me to get me sent to the Gates. And the third… the memories flooded in in chunks. This was an alternate present. One where Anna was dead, and Elsa had turned the whole of Arendelle into her own kingdom. Just as the freak had…


End file.
